This article's subject exists primarily or exclusively within the IDW Publishing continuity. Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity.

Zombots,[1] also referred to as the infected,[1] is a term that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by IDW Publishing. It refers to animals who have been infected by the Metal Virus and had their infection reach its apogee. After Super Sonic and Super Silver managed to send every trace of the Metal Virus into the sun, the infected gradually returned to normal.[2]

Contents show]

Concept and creation

According to Ian Flynn, the metal skin feature from Sonic Heroes served as the inspiration for the Zombots.[3]

Description

Anatomy

Zombots are made up entirely of an unknown metallic compound that completely rewrite the victim's genetic coding, transforming them on a molecular level. Their bodies are given a metallic sheen while retaining shades of their original colors; they are highly malleable, easily deforming from blunt impacts.[1] They also possess dark red eyes with small, bright red pupils, but otherwise retain the general shape of their organic selves. Some Zombots may develop minor additional features, such as sharp claws, spikes, and more angular body markings.[4][5]

Characteristics and culture

Described as "robot zombies" by Sonic, the Zombots are completely silent, emotionless and without personalities. They do not react emotionally to the environment around them and are completely unresponsive to verbal chatter; noticeably, taunts from Sonic that would have sent Tumble into a fury did not even register with a Zombot version of the skunk. This has led Amy to call them "soulless";[1] however, some Zombots can apparently react to physical stresses, flinching or appearing dizzy when struck.[5] It has also been noticed by Sonic that Zombots do not fight as efficiently as they normally would after their transformation; he was able to overwhelm a Zombot Shadow with a move that a healthy Shadow would have seen coming and countered.[6]

Due to the Metal Virus, Zombots are also deprived of free will. Initially, they would instinctively obey the orders of Dr. Eggman alone.[4][7] However, supposedly due to random mutations in the Metal Virus's coding created from spreading through exposure, the Zombots have begun becoming more disobedient and unresponsive to Eggman's commands.[8] However, it was theorized by Starline that Zeti could control them using their electromagnetic powers.[6] Zavok later reveals this to be true, but their powers could only control at least a dozen alone. Once empowered by the Chaos Emeralds, they can control up to thousands.[9]

If left idle, the Zombots display aggressive tendencies towards all uninfected living organisms,[4] relentlessly attacking them in order to spread the Metal Virus. However, they appear to be at least docile towards their own kind.[10] If no uninfected beings are present, Zombots behave like they are in a mindless daze.[7]

Eggman later reveals that as the Metal Virus mutates, it becomes unsustainable; any infected eukaryote cells will eventually suffer a form of apoptosis. He goes on to say that autotrophic cells will endure slightly longer but not by much. In other words, those infected by the virus will eventually disintegrate, but not for another two hundred years.[9]

Powers and abilities

All Zombots possess increased strength; Zombot Rough was able to make a crack a rock wall with a single punch[1] and regular citizens were able to smash though a thick wooden door using only their fists.[7] They also retain some, if not all, of the abilities they had as organic beings, but their simpleminded nature prevents them from using more specialized techniques. For instance, Shadow retained his super speed after being converted into a Zombot, but was unable to use his Hover Shoes to accelerate himself.[11] Due to their robotic nature, Zombots are also immune to illnesses and have no need to eat.[7]

Following their transmutation, the Zombots become much more durable; even a sharp object thrown directly into their bodies will just bounce off without a scratch.[5] If a Zombot does take damage, it can manipulate its own liquid body composition, allowing it to instantly reconstitute and restore its body from damaging blows. This makes them virtually unstoppable opponents.[1]

Zombots are able to spread the Metal Virus to any living tissue, be it either flora or fauna, through the slightest physical touch; however, they cannot pass the virus onto processed or inorganic matter.[4] Once the virus has been passed onto a victim, the infection will slowly spread across the victim until it is fully converted; however, the infection rate can be accelerated by repeated or prolonged exposure to the virus.[10] As such, Zombots will often attempt to pin down a target until they are fully transformed - or destroyed, in the case of inorganic foes.

History

Infection

The first "Zombot" (not yet named as such) to be created was a Pocky that Dr. Eggman used as a test subject. This Pocky was saturated in the Metal Virus, instantly turning it into a Zombot. Dr. Eggman then had the Zombot Pocky briefly grab a Picky, seeing that the infection had transferred to it.[4] The next Zombot to be created was a Ricky in Eggman's captivity, who had been infected with the Metal Virus during Eggman's experiments; in an effort to circumvent the slow rate of secondary infection, Eggman used the Zombot Pocky to accelerate the virus's spread on it, quickly achieving full conversion.[10]

While fighting Sonic and Amy in Echo Mine, Rough and Tumble unintentionally released backpacks full of the Metal Virus onto themselves, turning them into Zombots. They then resumed fighting Sonic and Amy, regenerating from any damage the hedgehogs inflicted. Although Sonic ultimately got rid of Zombot Rough and Tumble by knocking them into a refuse pit, he got infected with the Metal Virus in the process. Meanwhile, having heard Sonic call Rough and Tumble "Zombots", Eggman decided to call the infected just that, considering the name to be "catchy".[1]

After checking in at Tails, Sonic discovered that he could keep his Zombot transformation in check with his speed, although he could not cure himself. In the meantime, Eggman used his Faceship to flood Windmill Village with his Metal Virus, transforming all of the inhabitants into Zombots either directly or by the attacks of their infected brethren. Afterwards, the Zombots followed Eggman's orders and dispersed across the countryside to create more Zombots, infecting plants and animals along the way. One Flicky in particular was transformed overnight as it slept in an infected tree; in the morning, it awoke as a fully-fledged Zombot and flew towards the nearest city.[7]

Crisis City and Darkest Hour

A new Zombot infection broke out in Seaside City after the Faceship spilled a dose of the Metal Virus into the city. The Zombots soon reached and attacked the Chaotix's office, but the group managed to escape them; seeing the outbreak consuming the city, Vector, Espio and Charmy set to work distracting the Zombots while evacuating the uninfected residents. During the evacuation, Sonic saved Vector when a group of Zombots surrounded him, taking advantage of his infected state to keep the Zombots at bay. After a Rescue Shuttle arrived, most of the Zombots headed for the docks where the survivors were gathering. There, the Chaotix fended off the Zombots while the survivors boarded the Rescue Shuttle. Charmy flew back into the city to save a partially-infected civilian that Vector had to leave behind; however, the civilian had already become a Zombot by the time he arrived. Startled by this, Charmy was grabbed by another Zombot and overwhelmed by a horde.[5] He would then wander around the streets for a while.[12]

Another Zombot infection broke out in Floral Forest Village when Eggman's Faceship spilled another Metal Virus dose into the village. As the Zombots began wreaking havoc and infecting more villagers, Sonic came to hold them off and evacuate as many villagers as possible. During this, the Zombots were ordered by Eggman to pile up on Sonic; however, they ignored the command. Orbot then revealed that the Zombots had become increasingly disobedient over time, which worried Starline. Eggman suspected this was due to mutations in the Metal Virus's coding brought about by spreading through exposure, however, he was certain that he would find a way to control the Zombots after Sonic was dealt with. Meanwhile, more Zombots pressed onward towards Cream's residence, but Gemerl got in their way. At first, Gemerl sought to eliminate the Zombots; however, Cream convinced Gemerl to fight the Zombots without destroying them. As such, Gemerl engaged the Zombots non-lethally, taking slight damage after they surrounded him. Meanwhile, a few Zombots managed to break into Cream's house and corner Vanilla. In an attempt to defend their family, Cheese and Chocola attacked the Zombots, but their punches only got them infected by the Metal Virus. A Zombot caught the Chao to complete the infection as Sonic came and blew away a group threatening Cream and Vanilla. When the rabbits escaped to safety, the local Zombots (now including Cheese and Chocola) turned their attention to Sonic, but they were knocked away by Gemerl. Sonic trapped the Zombot Cheese and Chocola in glass jars to keep them grounded before heading over to Sunset City after a call from Rouge; after he left, Cheese and Chocola began to break out of their jars.[8]

Later, a colossal Zombot outbreak erupted in Sunset City after the Faceship released a dose of the Metal Virus into the city; this time, Eggman seemingly did not even try to command the Zombots, leaving them to attack purely on their own. One Zombot traveled to the KTBR 199.2 radio station.[13] The Zombots swarmed the streets, trying to reach civilians holed up in buildings and attacking Sonic as he passed through; while they failed to stop the hedgehog, a few managed to touch him and accelerate his infection once more. They also came under attack by E-123 Omega, who attempted to destroy them like any other Eggman robot despite Sonic's protests. Fortunately, the Zombots' durability ensured that Omega's gunfire could only keep them away as Sonic helped the civilians out of the building. The remaining Zombots between the building and the Grand Gold Flicky Hotel were soon after blown away by Sonic so the civilians could go to the hotel. At the hotel, another horde of Zombots tried to get the hotel, but the local officers kept them at bay with Burst Wispons. Sonic soon after repelled a large group of Zombots when they tried to catch the survivors before they could reach the hotel's safe zone. Two Zombots were then pulled away from the hotel by Sonic, who met up with Omega, who fought back against more groups of Zombots. As the Zombots started to come from two sides at once, Shadow arrived in a truck and drove straight through the Zombots. Noticing that the truck was being used to gather survivors, the Zombot hordes made it their primary target; however, they were kept at bay by Omega's gunfire. Meanwhile, Shadow engaged another Zombot horde head-on, believing that his status as the Ultimate Life Form would prevent them from infecting him; however, he was quickly proven wrong when he made the mistake of grabbing a Zombot and throwing it. Despite the Metal Virus rapidly infecting him, Shadow refused to back down and continued fighting, allowing the Zombot horde to overwhelm him and complete his transformation. When Sonic returned after his latest run to burn off the Metal Virus, he was pinned against the truck by the newly-minted Zombot Shadow.[11]

Sonic fought Shadow and kept him at bay with the other Zombots while Rouge evacuated the area with a truck full of uninfected citizens. Omega stayed behind to fight more Zombots. Neither him nor Sonic wanted to retreat, which resulted in Omega getting his torso ripped open by Shadow and his arms torn off by two other Zombots. Sonic found himself nearly overpowered by Shadow but he and the other Zombots were lifted into the air by Silver's psychokinesis before they could do more damage. Sonic managed to escape and Tails removed Omega's head from his damaged body. After Silver released the Zombots, Shadow immediately attacked him. Silver narrowly dodged this attack and fled the scene with Tails.[6]

Flock Together

Charmy, alongside a large flock of Zombot Flickies, attacked a lone Rescue Shuttle. They met opposition in the form of Vector and Espio, who planned to capture Charmy. After some quick thinking from Vector, he used a smoke bomb to stun the Flickies long enough to track down and capture Charmy.[14]

The Last Minute and The Catalyst

Another Zombot outbreak occurred at Central City after Dr. Eggman used the Faceship to distribute a batch of Metal Virus there. One hour later, Zombots began to roam the streets of the city. One Zombot knocked over some trash cans near Tails' lab, while several more were fended off by Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf as they helped uninfected citizens evacuate the city. At some point, Whisper helped knock away some Zombots that surrounded Tangle when she was on a street light. Meanwhile, quite a number of Zombots were fighting Silver at Ice Paradise. He tried to get the survivors out of the area but the ship went down to Zombots.[15][9]

A flock of Zombot Flickies flew over Tails on his lab rooftop, but they did not notice him, allowing the fox cub to retrieve a sample of the Metal Virus and return to his lab. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched by the transformed Cheese and Chocola. Meanwhile, Vector and Espio returned to Restoration HQ from a mission in Pine Grove Village after it had suffered a random Zombot outbreak. With several refugees, the pair also managed to find the Zombot Charmy and imprisoned him in a Containment Bubble. At the HQ, one of the refugees from Pine Grove Village revealed that he had actually been infected and swiftly turned into a Zombot. This caused a panic among the refugees and the tumult caused Charmy to break out of his Containment Bubble. The virus quickly spread among the refugees, including Vanilla. Just before Vector attempted to close the gates to the HQ's launch bay, Charmy flew out, targeting the one Rescue Shuttle the Restoration planned to use. Vector lunged at Charmy and pinned him down, getting infected in the process. Knowing he was lost to the virus, Vector had Gemerl close the gates behind him as he kept the Zombots back so that everyone else could escape.[15][16]

Before Tails could finish his cure for the Metal Virus, the Zombot Chao cut off the main power supply for the lab. Tails tried to retrieve his computer's server blades to use later at Restoration HQ but he was interrupted by a Zombot who tore through the lab's entrance. The Zombot destroyed Tails' server blades and was followed by several other Zombots. This forced Tails to use his Cyclone to ram his way out of the lab. Cheese and Chocola attempted to follow Tails but the fox cub performed enough evasive maneuvers to leave them behind in the dust. Tails soon came to the aid of Tangle and Whisper to fend off Zombots while they guarded the uninfected citizens at the city's dock. A Rescue Shuttle soon arrived and while the citizens boarded, Tangle and Whisper drove the Zombots away from the ship. Tails' Cyclone was slowly being ripped apart by the Zombots attacking him, which forced the fox cub to leave his mech before it exploded.[15]

Meanwhile, after Barricade Town had become infested with Zombots, Eggman and Starline tested various radio frequencies in an attempt to control the horde there but their efforts were in vain; the Zombots ignored Eggman's commands as the Metal Virus had mutated beyond his control. Sonic soon arrived on the scene and fought Eggman to the point of causing both them to fall out of the doctor's Egg Mobile. A group of Zombots surrounded them both but only attacked Sonic as Starline managed to find a working frequency. Sonic quickly destroyed the Egg Mobile before Starline could upload the working frequency to the Faceship. Eggman and Starline retreated to the Faceship using Starline's Warp Topaz, while Sonic barely managed to escape the village and again run off the Metal Virus. Eggman decided to attack Spiral Hill Village next with the virus. The Faceship first attacked Spiral Hill farms with Metal Virus, which led to the infection and transformation of several Sonic Fan Club members into Zombots. The Faceship flew back to Spiral Hill farms again, repeating the action. Jewel the Beetle and the Sonic Fan Club's president and vice president were present at the scene and ran away; while doing so, they tried not to call attention to the now Zombot members of the fan club. After the trio arrived back in the village, Jewel found out that the president and vice president had touched the Metal Virus already. Once the Faceship flew over the town and began to dump more Metal Virus, Jewel put in a call to Tangle for help. After Amy found out about this, she contacted Sonic to ask him to help with evacuation.[17][18][18]

At Spiral Hill Village, several citizens were turned into Zombots, including Jewel, before the Restoration arrived. The Restoration still carried out their evacuation of the village for those uninfected by the Metal Virus. Tangle went to check on Jewel at the Mineral Museum, only to have her get the jump on her and infect the lemur from the shoulder. Despite this, Tangle still managed to trap Jewel in a glass display. When Sonic arrived on the scene, he discovered that Tangle was infected; she opted to stay behind and act as a tripwire to prevent Zombots from following the uninfected citizens as they left. Thus, Sonic helped Tangle quickly wrap her tail around several lampposts and blocked off the Zombots from advancing. Before Sonic left, he and Tangle hugged and said their goodbyes. Tangle then faced the Zombots and continued fighting as the Restoration left in the Rescue Shuttle. She fought for as long as she could and eventually succumbed to the Metal Virus, becoming a Zombot herself.[18][17][19]

Big's Big Adventure

After finding Froggy near Spiral Hill Village, Big was on his way home when he was approached by several Zombots. He fought them off using his Fishing Rod and Froggy jumped on the head of one of them, getting infected in the process. Big managed to tie up the Zombots to a tree and leave with his buddy. Back at home, Big recounted his adventure to Froggy, unaware that he had become a Zombot. The infection soon spread to Big as he held Froggy, as well as the forest surrounding them.[12]

All or Nothing

After Eggman, Starline and Metal Sonic were forced to flee from the Deadly Six on the Faceship, they were transported via a Warp Portal to Angel Island and met up with several survivors of the Metal Virus. Soon, Eggman revealed that as the Metal Virus mutated, it became unsustainable; any infected heterotrophic eukaryote cells will eventually suffer a form of apoptosis. He went on to say that autotrophic cells will endure slightly longer but not by much. In other words, those infected by the virus will eventually disintegrate, but not for another two hundred years. Meanwhile, the Deadly Six equipped themselves with the Chaos Emeralds and set off into the world to control thousands of Zombots in an attempt to infect the entire world with the Metal Virus.[9]

Zomom had the Zombots in Vista View chase after Amy and Tails after the latter lied to him. The pair managed to outrun them anyway all the way to the town's gate. After dropping the gate on Zomom to stop him in his tracks, Amy and Tails took his Chaos Emerald and left him at the mercy of the Zombots. Zeena had the Zombots around her in Sunset City on standby while she fought Cream controlling Gemerl. When she tossed him aside to a group of Zombots, Zeena restrained Cream and held her up to another group. Gemerl managed to burst out and join the battle again. The pair managed to defeat Zeena and take her Chaos Emerald; following this, Gemerl threw the helpless Zeti to a group of Zombots, where she was infected. Soon after, Cream revealed that she was infected as well. In Orchardville, after Silver and Whisper defeated Zor, they took his Chaos Emerald and left him to be approached by Zombots, though the Zeti happily accepted his grim fate. In Riverside, Zazz tried to have Zombots follow Espio and infect him but to no avail. In Winterburg, as Master Zik forced Wave and Storm to stand cornered and fight against a large horde of Zombots, Jet faced the Zeti head on and attacked him with his Bashōsen. With the combined efforts of Jet's teammates, Master Zik had his Chaos Emerald taken from him and was left to be infected by Zombots. Jet then decided to send the Chaos Emerald back through the portal with his board and stay behind to fight Zombots with Wave and Storm.[20][21]

Zavok led a large horde of Zombots to Angel Island in order to track down Eggman and Sonic. After Rouge had the Faceship crash down into the ocean after removing the Chaos Emerald that powered it, Zavok grew to a massive size, powered by his Chaos Emerald. He then threw a group of Zombots onto the island's surface to face the survivors there. While Sonic, Silver and Metal Sonic went to retrieve the final Chaos Emerald, the rest of the survivors did their best to keep away from the Zombots, with Knuckles eventually succumbing to the virus himself. Several Zombots tried holding Sonic back, preventing him from reaching the final Emerald; Metal Sonic quickly brushed them aside. Soon, Sonic and Silver transformed into Super Sonic and Super Silver respectively and used the Warp Topaz to create a Super Warp Portal. Super Silver used his enhanced psychokinesis to remove the Metal Virus from every infected living thing around the world, allowing Super Sonic to send it straight to the sun. With this, the Zombots were no more.[21][2]

List of former Zombots

Can you see them from your hiding spot, Sonic? The faces of all the friends you've failed?

— Zavok, Sonic the Hedgehog #28

Trivia

Gallery

References