- This is the article on Dr. Eggman's first battlesuit. For other models, see Snively's Beater or Egg Beater II.
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The Egg Beater was a battle suit created by Dr. Eggman designed to counter all of Sonic the Hedgehog's abilities. It was used during the successful attack on Knothole and later to attack New Mobotropolis. While originally it utterly defeated Sonic, the suit was destroyed by the combined efforts of the Knothole Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix. The suit was armed with a giant spiked ball/mace and carried a shield capable of deflecting powerful attacks.
History
Production
The Egg Beater was built in 3237, sometime prior to the wedding of Antoine D'Coolette and Bunnie Rabbot. The suit was first discovered by Espio the Chameleon during a recon mission into the heart of New Megaopolis. It was also on this same mission that he uncovered Eggman's battle plan to raze Knothole to the ground. Unfortunately, Espio panicked in his attempt to warn the Freedom Fighters of the impending attack and he was captured by Egg Pawns and then teleported to the Egg Grapes by Robotnik himself using one of the Egg Beater's gauntlets. (StH: #174)
Giving a Beating
The Egg Beater finally saw full utilization when Dr. Eggman piloted it as he lead his Egg Fleet in the all-out assault on Knothole. While Snively and his Green Mech distracted Sonic and his friends at Freedom HQ, Eggman and his fleet went about capturing the rest of Knothole's residents and destroying everything of significance along the way, saving Castle Acorn for last. There, Eggman confronted Sonic and gave him a physical and psychological trouncing that was meant to destroy him in body and spirit. Sonic fought valiantly, but despite even impacting the Beater at high speeds from half-way across the continent, the most damage he did was just badly denting its shield. Robotnik then pummeled out what little fight Sonic had left in him and then withdrew, leaving Sonic to wallow in the sense of utter futility that came with resisting the Eggman Empire. (StH: #175)
A Scrambled Beater
When Sonic, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Miles "Tails" Prower, and NICOLE mounted a rescue mission and freed Robotnik's prisoners from the Egg Grapes in New Megaopolis, the doctor brought out his battle suit again to recapture the Knothole escapees. Unbeknownst to him though, Tails and NICOLE hacked into his teleportation system and altered the frequency to transport everyone hit by the beams to New Mobotropolis instead. This was discovered by Snively who tried to tell his uncle, but was ignored as Eggman was too busy "imprisoning" his prey. It was only after he zapped everyone, including Sonic, that Eggman finally heard his nephew's report of the interference and that all the spare Egg Grapes were still empty. Robotnik then remotely launched the Egg Fleet via the Egg Beater and headed in the direction of New Mobotropolis after Snively tracked the location of the transport frequency. There Eggman discovered his former nanite city had been compromised and commandeered by Nicole and raised a shield to repel the oncoming attack. The Egg Fleet fired with everything it had and so did the doctor who eventually went so far as to hit the shield with the Egg Beater's fists, infuriated that the Mobians were successfully keeping him at bay by using his own stolen technology. (StH: #176, #177)
Getting a Beatdown
Eventually, Sonic exited New Mobotropolis to again confront Dr. Eggman who was waiting just outside. Though expecting a repeat of their previous fight with the exact same results, Robotnik was surprised and ill-prepared to deal with the combined strength of the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix who joined the fray. Sonic revealed that he and his friends had deduced from the earlier encounter that while the Egg Beater could easily handle Sonic, it would be far less capable of dealing with any other kind of opponent. This was evident as the battle suit's weapons were easily torn apart by Knuckles, Mighty, and Vector and the body was blown wide open by Bunnie's pulse cannon. After the second string fighters carved away at the suit more, Sonic quickly finished it off with a spin dash, causing Eggman to retaliate with a missile barrage from his fleet. NICOLE easily shielded everyone from this and the doctor retreated, swearing revenge. (StH: #177)
Abilities and Weaknesses
The Egg Beater was specifically designed to combat Sonic the Hedgehog, and thus, was able to counter all of his abilities. It was capable of firing teleportation beams at its desired _target and teleporting them to another location, such as the Egg Vineyard. It could fly thanks to jets on its feet, and had very powerful battle capabilities. Apart from swinging its wrecking ball and bashing foes with its shield, the mech also sported two missile launchers on its back and laser emitters on its forearms. Its shield was also extremely durable, able to take Sonic's most powerful spin dash with only a dent.
Since it was created to do battle with Sonic the Hedgehog and no one more, it is capable of holding itself out against him and could possibly defeat him once and for all, but should some other powerful being other than Sonic step into the fight, the Egg Beater would not be able to fight that being as well as its primary _target. (StH: #175, #176, #177)
Background Information
- The battle suit was not actually given a name in the comics, but writer Ian Flynn stated he and the rest of the staff called it the "Egg Beater" in a Q & A thread on his message board (1) and is also referred to as such in The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia.
- This defeat was the key event that began Dr. Eggman's slow, but gradually increasing fall to insanity that would not be fully achieved until 23 issues later in Archie Sonic the Hedgehog #200, the eighth milestone issue.
- The Egg Beater combines elements of several boss machines from the Sonic video games; its wrecking ball is borrowed from a recurring boss first seen in the original game, the missile barrage may be a reference to a boss in Sonic The Hedgehog 3, while its shield and foot design both seem lifted from the first boss of Sonic CD. Its general form also resembles the final boss in the now-classic game, Sonic The Hedgehog 2.
- The Egg Beater also shares a strong resembles to Metal Robotnik from the Sonic OVA movie.