E-Series (Sonic the Hedgehog)



The E-Series is a fictional group of robots in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games. They are created by the games' antagonist, Doctor Eggman (or Dr. Robotnik) who uses them in his quest to conquer the world. They are higher tier enemies than normal badniks, and are used by Eggman as a kind of elite trooper. The E-Series is the last series of Eggman's robots to use captured animals as a power source (with some exceptions, see below) - with more recent efforts such as the mass-produced Egg-Pawn series, Flickies are no longer used. The E-Series' first appearance was in Sonic Adventure in which E-102 Gamma is a playable character.

E-01
What is supposedly the first robot in the E-Series is the gargantuan central core computer of the Death Chamber in Sonic Adventure 2. It is a large, cylindrical unit the height of the central area it is positioned inside. Its 'E-01' decal can be found near the top of its metallic outer shell. While some say it is a E-Series prototype, it seems more like a nuclear reactor, and not much like a fighting machine. One thing can be taken from all this, however: Eggman made his pyramid base earlier than anyone would have guessed.

E-100
The E-100 line robots were the first of the E-Series to appear; they were introduced in Sonic Adventure. They were gunner robots, still in developmental stages. Almost all were equipped with some sort of lock-on target ammunition, though its utility varied between models. Unlike many of Eggman's robots, some of the E-100 series were important characters in their own right. The most prominent was E-102 Gamma, who was a playable character during the game. The E-100 series were also given Greek letter names.

Note that though the E-100s are a line of genderless robots, they are often referred to as male by several characters (including their creator) in game, and may be referred to as such in this article.

E-100 Alpha(α) aka ZERO
E-100 Alpha, better known as ZERO (sometimes with the added title The Chase Master) is a large green robot that appeared in Sonic Adventure. Although he is never called an E-Series robot in the games or Sonic X, he was listed as "E-100 Alpha" on the Sonic Adventure website accessed via Dreamcast. Unlike the other E-100 series robots it does not have "E-100" on its body, but instead it has "E" on both sides of its body. Also, the headlight on ZERO is on its shoulder, contrast to the other E-100's in which it is on their mid-section. ZERO is also not powered by an animal like the other E-100 robots, as nothing is seen escaping from its body after its destruction.

ZERO made his debut by chasing a blue Flicky in the possession of a Chaos Emerald that had fled from Eggman and taken refuge with Amy Rose. ZERO first chased Amy around Station Square and its Twinkle Park amusement park, and captured and imprisoned her on the Egg Carrier. It then tried to stop her from escaping via the Egg Carrier's Hot Shelter area but failed, and went on to try to capture her when she looked for the Flicky's relatives in Eggman's Final Egg base in the Mystic Ruins. When ZERO went back to the Egg Carrier, he saw Amy and the Flicky with the bird's relatives, who had been inside E-101 Beta and E-102 Gamma. ZERO then attacked and knocked out the small Flicky. Amy, who was furious at it for doing such a cruel act, battled ZERO and finally destroyed it after smashing its head with her hammer, knocking it into an electric fence that fried its circuits. Despite his destruction, ZERO also appears as an obstacle in the Special Stages of Sonic Advance 2.

ZERO also appears in episodes 28 and 31 of the anime series Sonic X, where it mirrors its game role during the Sonic Adventure adaptation. The only notable difference is that ZERO is never actually destroyed. Also, while it remains mute throughout the course of the game, ZERO is given a brief speaking role in the anime.

E-101 Beta (β)
E-101 Beta is a black robot that was created for the E-100 army. He has two guided missile-launchers on his arms. Eggman defined Beta as Gamma's "big brother", and decided to pit Beta and Gamma against each other to determine which robot would leave the Mystic Ruins base to board the Egg Carrier. Gamma managed to defeat Beta, but not in spirit, the defeated robot quickly pleading with his master for a second chance. Amused, Eggman granted Beta "special permission" on board as "spare parts." Gamma next encountered the older E-100 model by accident – entering a construction chamber to find unit E-101 stripped down to the chassis and currently under a torturous remodeling operation. The parts left over from the remodeling were used as spare parts for other E-series robots.

E-101 MKII
Beta was reconstructed into a "Mark II (mkII)" E-100 model. 200 cm tall (6ft 6in) and weighing 1024.256 kg, E-101 Beta was now an airborne fighter with improved weapon capabilities, including advanced homing missiles, laser cannon arms, and large spiked gauntlets used for bludgeoning "charge" attacks. Beta MKII navigated with a tail "rudder" and employed an advanced tracking system in his single green "eye". Its improved capabilities included the ability to create a rainbow-colored energy shield, fire a spread of several (ranging from 2 to 10) homing missiles, and fire powerful yellow energy blasts from great distances. It could also knock away hostile projectiles with its arms. Gamma and the "new" Beta faced off once again aboard the downed Egg Carrier as part of the former's crusade to "rescue" his brothers from Eggman’s control. Beta, despite improvements, was defeated. But he would not go down alone – with what power remained, Beta blasted Gamma at point-blank range, ultimately destroying his brother and ironically completing E-102’s mission by freeing the animal trapped within him, before he himself detonated, releasing the white Flicky inside him.

E-101 Beta mimics his role (as well as most of Zeta's) in Sonic X. Though he is mute in the game, he has a speaking role in the anime, voiced by Andrew Rannells in the English dub version.

E-102 Gamma (γ)
E-102 Gamma is a red robot which was one of the playable characters in Sonic Adventure. Gamma was 215 cm (7ft 1in) tall, weighed precisely 825.256 kg (1819.378 lbs), and had a 15.5 cm missile launcher attached to his right wrist, which shot homing missiles aided by a laser targeting system, In the game however, this could be upgraded into a laser blaster which could lock on to more targets and do more damage. Gamma's gameplay involves the player using his missile launcher to destroy enemies and eventually reach a boss within a given time limit.

Gamma is promoted onto the Egg Carrier following his win over Beta (this battle seemingly also choosing the favored design for the remaining E-100s). Initially loyal to Eggman, Gamma assists in empowering the Chaos creature, eventually becoming the doctor's most trusted minion, though witnesses Eggman's cruel disposal of his less competent brethren as a result. Gamma slowly develops a conscience unique to the other E Series, releasing Amy Rose in remorse. After some convincing from his new friend, Gamma deletes his master registration and turns against Eggman, devoting his short existence to freeing the animals contained inside his E-Series 'friends'. He successfully "rescues" the other E-100s, lastly freeing E-101 MKII, which leaves him mortally wounded. Upon limping away from the battlefield, he projects one final image, that of the family of birds inside the baby bird's locket. With that, Gamma deactivates and explodes, thus releasing the pink Flicky within him. These two Flickies happened to be the parents of the little bird Amy had been protecting up to that point, thus ending both Amy Rose and Gamma's storylines.

E-102 Gamma was voiced by Steve Broadie in English and George Nakata in Japanese. He is also playable in Sonic Shuffle ("revived with the power of dreams"), voiced by Deem Bristow. He mirrors his initial role in Sonic X although Amy was present during his final moments, where he is voiced by Andrew Rannells and Taiten Kusunoki respectively in the English and Japan versions.

E-102 Chaos Gamma (γ)
E-102 Chaos Gamma is the rebuilt version of E-102 Gamma, created from the salvaged parts of the original E-Series (despite seemingly exploding into nothing upon their destruction, but may have been built from E101 Beta's spare parts after it was transformed into E101 Mk II), appearing as an antagonist and playable character in Sonic Battle. While he lacks the original Gamma's memories, he looks just like his original form, except his missile launcher, "102" decal and headlight are missing and he has a deeper voice. While obtaining similar lock-on utilities as the original, Chaos Gamma fights by summoning various weapons unique to his model, including drills, electric shock prods which attach to his hands, and a grenade launcher which attaches to his shoulder. Despite his slow moving (overall), & his lack of good aim, Chaos Gamma does lots of damage if you land them. He also explodes when he loses a life, marked by saying "Initiating recovery mode". He is also powered by Emerald shards, growing with intelligence with each piece as Emerl does, upon which he bitterly expresses that Dr Eggman used Gamma's intended Chaos Emerald to activate the Gizoid. Desperate to re-obtain his "power", he goes after Emerl various times throughout the game, though after his final defeat, Cream reasons with the robot, explaining that a friendship involves sacrifice and sharing for the well-being of others. After some long thought, Gamma sacrifices its current shard to Emerl. Despite this, Chaos Gamma remains loyal to Eggman, and later attempts to take Emerl's 6 chaos emeralds and Shadow's single one, though he was defeated by the duo and retreats. Later he appears in Eggmans base, Gimme Shelter, to "test" Emerls abilities (or as he calls it, a training program) that is, like all other characters at that point, optional. It is unknown what happened to Chaos Gamma or if he will return. Chaos Gamma is voiced by Jon St. John in English, after Broadie died in 2001.

E-103 Delta (δ)
E-103 Delta is a blue robot with two Missile Launchers on his arms, just like Beta. After failing to retrieve the Emerald powered Froggy for Chaos, Eggman demotes him, Epsilon and Zeta from his crew, sending them away to be remodelled for generic 'Badnik' duty in undisclosed locations. Before being teleported away, Delta took a sad final glance at Gamma (this image coming to haunt his older brother). At first, Delta, like the other elite E-Series, was based on the E-102 design (par Gamma's target scope), with just one cannon arm, but after being discarded by Eggman, he is based on Beta, meaning he had a pair of Missile Launchers on his arms and a jet booster. Later, Gamma found Delta stranded in Windy Valley. The brothers battled, and Gamma emerged victorious. In the original Sonic Adventure, Delta's animal was a peacock, but in Sonic Adventure DX, the animal was changed to a parrot. In Sonic X, he is powered by a white, Pocky-esque rabbit.

E-104 Epsilon (ε)
E-104 Epsilon is an orange robot with twin Stinger missile launchers on his arms. Epsilon was able to fire much faster than his predecessors, causing the player a distraction while fighting. Like Delta, Epsilon was first inspired by the E-102 design in the same manner as Delta, but after he was sent away, he was equipped with large missile launchers on each arm. After Gamma was proved superior, Epsilon was teleported to an unknown location along with Delta and Zeta. Later, Gamma found Epsilon in a lava-filled cave in Red Mountain on Angel Island. The two fought, and Gamma emerged victorious. In the original game he released a yellow Flicky upon destruction, but this was replaced with a swallow in Sonic Adventure DX. His power source in Sonic X is shown briefly to be a light coloured Flicky during his 'birth' (this time simultaneously with his older brothers).

E-105 Zeta (ζ)
E-105 Zeta was initially a purple robot identical to E-102 Gamma in the same manner as his brothers (besides color), though it was later altered and reconstructed as a considerably larger stationary defense unit built into the core of the Egg Carrier, equipped with seven advanced missile launchers. Gamma fought and defeated Zeta in the Hot Shelter onboard the Egg Carrier, releasing the trapped animal inside after Zeta's head exploded. A Dreamcast console is included in Zeta's exterior design, inserted by Sonic Team as an easter egg. Its Flicky captive is replaced by a peacock in Sonic Adventure DX. Zeta is shown only briefly in its upgraded form in Episode 31 of Sonic X, where it lacks its missile launchers and Dreamcast base. Its power source is never shown in the anime.

E-121 Phi (φ)
The E-121 Phi is a series of fourteen robots based on the design of the Gizoid, Emerl that appeared in Sonic Battle. The only physical difference between Phi and Emerl is Phi's grey hue and brown eyes, as opposed to Emerl's yellow and blue. They are about as intelligent as Emerl was when he had two Chaos Emeralds, and generally just repeat one word while speaking, such as "Located! Located!". The Phi robots are powered by Chaos Emerald shards, rather than whole Chaos Emeralds like Emerl, however the last four "Phi" robots are considerably more advanced in speech capabilities, including when #13 and #14 say "Located! I will capture you for Doctor Eggman" and have more powerful attacks when they go full power. By the end of the game, all Phis are destroyed by Emerl and his friends as they collect Chaos Emeralds for Emerl to absorb. Eggman admits that the Phis were useless at the start of Emerl's episode in Sonic Battle. By the pattern set by E-100 α to E-105 ζ, a pattern resumed by E-123 Ω, this robot's Greek name should actually be Chi (χ); E-120 would be Phi.

E-123 Omega (Ω)
E-123 Omega is the last and most powerful robot of the E-100 series. He is the only playable robot in Sonic Heroes. According to his Sonic Channel bio, Omega is 150cm tall (4ft 11in) and weighs 1,230.512 kg (2712.77lbs), making him 2ft 2in shorter than the original E-100s. He has the capital Omega symbol (Ω) painted on his shoulders, in contrast to all the other E-100s, which had the lowercase Greek letter (ω). Although he is based on the E-102 model, he possesses stronger and more numerous amounts of weaponry (two mini guns, one flamethrower and one rocket launcher on each arm). Like Gamma, he too gains a sentience, though his intentions aren't anywhere near as noble. After being reactivated by Rouge the Bat, he swears vengeance on Eggman for shutting him down, destroying all Eggman robots to prove he is superior. Omega does make reference to his predecessors, in Sonic Heroes if at the end of any level you received an E ranking sometimes he says "I could not even beat Gamma or Beta." Oddly though, he was created before E-121 Phi, as Rouge mentions Omega in Sonic Battle during her chapter.

E-1000
The game Sonic Adventure 2 and its GameCube port Sonic Adventure 2: Battle presented the E-1000. The E-1000 was a mass-produced variant of E-102 Gamma that served as a normal Badnik-style enemies, sporting a pair of cannon arms. Despite being paired for what may seem like double the firepower, the E-1000 line's weaponry, with low-velocity projectiles, and no homing feature, was generally far less effective than E-102's single missile launcher.

E-2000
Two more E-models appeared in the game Sonic Heroes, though by that time, Doctor Eggman had progressed to the E-2000 series of robots, as mentioned by Omega on Final Fortress. The E-2000 is a red humanoid robot armed with a powerful energy cannon and a shield, along with the ability to transform into a plane-like shape. The game also featured the E-2000R, a gold-colored variant of the regular E-2000 with extra armor. It appears that the armor is only relatively effective against the main characters, a possible cause of this may be mass production of the unit. The E-2000 robots also appeared as common enemies in Sonic Rush, along with different variations of the robot (including a green version on a pogo stick).

E-10000
Sonic Riders featured yet another branch of the E-Series, namely the E-10000 series. A difference in this branch is that they are referred to by color, as opposed to by name and number. The E-10000 robots appear to be similar in appearance to Eggman's Egg Pawns, but more advanced. Except for color, they both seem to have the same, basic structure. E-10000 appear in four colors, though only E-10000R and E-10000G have playable roles, with yellow and purple models appearing as obstacles. They are voiced by Maddie Blaustein in English.

E-10000R
E-10000R (called Robo 1 on the official American website) is a red robot built for speed. According to the official Japanese Sonic Riders website, it is equipped with the same kind of engine as Metal Sonic and gives orders to the E-10000Gs. In Story Mode, the E-10000R walks into a battle between Knuckles the Echidna and Storm the Albatross, and is inadvertently damaged in the process. It later tries to capture the heroes with visible damage from the battle, but fails. Unlike the E-10000Gs, there is only one R.

E-10000R has the ability to split its head from its body to scare or strike opponents or simply attack them with its large fists. E-10000R's unique Extreme Gear is called the E-GearR, and the robot can be unlocked as a playable character for playing 50 hours.

E-10000G
E-10000G (called Robo 2 on the official American website) is very similar to his "brother", except it is green, has its "cap" on a different way, and is massproduced. According to the Japanese website, E-10000G was created as a work robot for the Egg Factory level, but was massproduced due to its mobility, and has an efficient data processing ability. E-10000G is a power type character in the game. However, when met as opponents in Story Mode, E-10000G has the powers of speed, flight, and power characters, likely to make the game harder. In Story Mode, E-10000G robots will fill the spots not used by other characters such as Sonic or Jet. They will also have numbers from 01 to 07 (or 06 if there is another prominent opponent) on their backs.

E-10000G is equipped with a large light in its body that it can use to blind opponents, and also punches and kicks enemies to attack (which sometimes comically flattens them). E-10000G's unique Extreme Gear is called the E-GearG, and the robot is unlocked as a playable character by playing for 20 hours.

E-10000P
E-10000P is a lot like the other versions, but far larger and bulkier. They don't seem to do anything and appear as obstacles in the Egg Factory stage that can be destroyed by power characters.

E-10000Y
E-10000Y is a lot like the other versions, but it doesn't have any legs. The E-10000Y seems to work around the factory. it frosts the floors, records footage, and tries to catch the characters. It can be destroyed by power characters.

E-Series in other media
The E-Series have made a few sparse but notable appearances in other Sonic media. Nearly all appearances reference the initial E-100s in Sonic Adventure.

Comics
E-102's story is depicted in the Archie-published Sonic the Hedgehog comics, namely in the Sonic Adventure story arc. While this adaptation begins to closely follow early elements of the game's story, many later aspects, including the E-100's deaths, are never shown (Though the E-100 may have been destroyed as opposed to teleported). It was explained in an interview that many aspects of the game's story had to be compressed in order to fit into the comic's adaptation, and that Gamma's plot is "something you've seen a hundred times if you're a devotee of samurai movies". However, it may be also due to the comic's rather different methods of robotization, which would make Gamma's "rescue" mission too complex or illogical. Last seen departing from the Egg Carrier following his defeat by Sonic, Gamma's fate (and that of the other E-100s) was never resolved, having only appeared in three issues; #80, #82 and Super Sonic Special 12 (an attendance even obscure characters such as Nack, Heavy and Bomb have managed to surpass). Though "Archie" made little use of the E-100s, they continued to pay homage to them through knock-off models in a similar manner as the games. In addition, the robot character Isaac is a golden recolor of E-102 Gamma. It is interesting to note that Isaac's creation predates the E-100s' by decades in the fiction, suggesting a possible design inspiration. An alternate-reality version of Bunnie Rabbot appears in issue #193 of the comic wearing a full-body robotic suit looking remarkably like E-123 Omega designed to provide a stopgap measure against a terminal illness she had contracted, albeit light blue instead of red and with different markings on the shoulders as well as being armed with non-lethal weapons intended to merely incapacitate enemies.

Television
Several robots from the E-00 series appeared only in the television series Sonic X. While the series takes place in a different continuity than the games, Sonic Team's assistance with the anime (see the Sonic X article for staff information), and the absence of E-02 through E-99 in the game series leaves it questionable as to whether they are canonical or not. Eggman usually uses the E-00 Series robots as basic drones, or uses a single one as the main enemy of an episode. Unlike most other E-series lines, who usually had a consistent design, nearly each model in the E-00 line had its own unique attributes.

The anime also retells many elements of the Sonic Adventure storyline, including Gamma's storyline. This depiction is somewhat loyal to the game arc, almost down to a word for word re-enactment (though much of the game's dialogue is lost in the transition to the English dub), however slight changes have been made to the storyline, mainly in favor of the series' unique concepts and characters. In this canon, the robots were co-created by Eggman and his minions, Decoe and Bocoe, who claim the E-100s to be Eggman's first use of animal powered machines (while in the games, they originally only allude this long-used method).