Motobug (Sonic Boom)

The Motobug is a character that appears in the Sonic Boom franchise. It is a mass-produced, ladybug-based Badnik model created by Dr. Eggman which makes up a part of Eggman's robotic foot soldiers. They are usually stationed at Dr. Eggman's lair where they guard Eggman's fortress and have been used against Team Sonic on numerous occasions.

Appearance
The Motobugs are relatively diminutive robots. While most are about Orbot's size, some may be smaller or larger. As per their template, the Motobugs resemble ladybugs, with an oval-shaped and narrow body with red elytra, a swirled rear, and two black spots on each side of their elytra and one in the middle of it. Their head is grey with two sharp mandibles, four stubby spikes down their face, cyan eyes with slit-like pupils, and two lighting bolt-shaped antennas. They also have two short yellow and grey arms with a claw for a hand, a black tire on the bottom of their body and an exhaust pipe on their left side.

Season one
When Tails invaded Eggman's lair (destroying its Motobug guards on the way) to free UT, some Motobugs would corner him before he gave his services to Eggman in exchange for UT's freedom. More Motobugs were later stomped when trying to stop Team Sonic's rescue of Tails. Several Motobugs were soon after called in to stop Team Sonic from breaking Amy out of Eggman's lair, only to get destroyed and mess up the lair for Modern Lair Magazine. The Motobugs would be called into battle again against Sonic after Eggman turned Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks evil. However, they got caught in the crossfire between Eggman's new allies as they turned on each other and were destroyed by Sonic and Eggman (the latter having been turned temporarily good). Eggman soon after brought some Motobugs to a revenge attack against Sonic and Tails at Sonic's Shack, only for them to get trashed.

When Dr. Eggman held a surprise party for Orbot and Cubot, a number of Motobugs participated in the festivities until Eggman brought them to an end. To guard the captured Team Sonic, T.W. Barker ordered a batch of Motobugs from Eggman which were all destroyed when the heroes escaped. A lone Motobug was also used to test a freeze ray against Cowbot, and another helped Eggman with his laser tag exercise, during which it lost to its master. Sonic (while stuck in Eggman's body) later assumed command of the Motobugs and the other Eggman robots for an attempt to recover his body from Eggman. Another time, a Motobug and other Badniks were called in to battle Sonic after Eggman got out of a depression, only to get smashed. Then, when he failed to sue Sonic legally, Eggman brought in some Motobugs to fight him and Team Sonic.

A Motobug would join Eggman in a battle against Team Sonic in the jungle, only to get driven off by the heroes. When later working on a Motobug, Orbot and Cubot felt neglected by Eggman in favor of his new friend Nominatus and left, though not before Orbot bid goodbye to a dear Motobug. However, Nominatus soon showed his true colors by taking control of the Motobugs to destroy all life forms, and used them to attack his enemies. Nominatus was soon defeated though, freeing the Motobugs. A Motobug soon after came with Eggman to Meh Burger to hold his place in the court, only to get overlooked by Sonic. More Motobugs and other robots were soon after sent after Sonic by Eggman when he wanted personal payback at the hedgehog. The bots got trashed when Sonic's team came to the rescue however.

The Motobugs were eventually abandoned when Eggman deserted technology until the incompetent Lightning Bolt Society took over Eggman's lair, who made the Motobugs go on random rampages in both the Village and at the lair until Team Sonic and Eggman reclaimed the lair. Multiple Motobugs and other Badniks were later summoned by Eggman to kill Dave the Intern and destroy Chez Amy, but due to Team Sonic, they only accomplished the latter. Eggman also brought in his Motobugs to force Monkey-Boy into his service. Team Sonic, however, would destroy all the Motobugs. As Eggman later shot his mind-enslavement movie, some Motobugs were used in several scenes. Some Motobugs later attended the screening, but when the movie turned out a failure, they were sent away by Eggman.

Eggman eventually brought some Motobugs with him on an attack on Seaside Island, only for Team Sonic to destroy them as they arrived. The Motobugs later tried miserably defending Eggman's lair from a Knuckles from another dimension until Eggman caught him. More came when Sonic, Amy and Sticks broke into the lair to rescue that Knuckles, but got smashed. A Motobug squadron would also accompany Eggman to the Valley of the Cubots to exterminate the residential Cubot prototypes. With Sonic and Tails protecting the prototypes though, the surviving Motobugs would retreat. Another time, several Motobugs joined Giant Robot for an invasion of the Unnamed Village, but they were all destroyed by Tails.

Eggman would later assemble his Motobugs again for a mission he sponsored to remove Knuckles as the host of the Comedy Chimp Show as a part of a sponsor deal with Comedy Chimp (during which the Motobugs advertised Eggman Industries). However, Team Sonic made them retreat. Another time, the Motobugs were assigned to protect Hypnobot which Eggman used to steal Tails' inventions. As the Motobugs fought Team Sonic, Tails got Hypnobot to stop the Motobugs by making them dance.

When Eggman had a surplus of solar power, remotely super-charged Motobugs were sicced on the Village, but Team Sonic destroyed them. Eggman later hid the Motobugs in his lair from the Archipelago Homeowners Association, who were onto his illegal housing of robots, while he had them over for dinner to convince them he had no robots, or risk eviction. However, the Motobugs went haywire from power overload during a thunderstorm and blew Eggman's cover. While Eggman avoided eviction by convincing the association that his Motobugs were art, he spent the night getting them under control. The Motobugs would later join Team Eggman as they launched an attack on Team Sonic. Regardless, the villains still got defeated.

Season two
Some Motobugs came with Dr. Eggman to retaliate against Tommy Thunder's "challenge" on TV, only to get smashed when Sonic came to Tommy's aid. The Motobugs later came with Eggman to ambush the Village while Sonic was stuck on another plane of existence. As they swarmed Team Sonic, the Motobugs and other Badniks were pushed into defeat when Tails brought Sonic to the fight. One Motobug fled though, much to Eggman's anger. Another time, the Motobugs were summoned alongside other Badniks by Eggman to fight Team Sonic when they broke free of Dreamcaster's mind-control, but they were all defeated.

Fed up with Eggman's callous attitude, the Motobugs would join Orbot and Cubot's strike action while also scorning Eggman's replacement lackeys. As they were about to give up though, Eggman cracked and agreed to treat them better (but still without respect). Later, when Orbot became an independent villain, he took some Motobugs with him to attack City Hall, but these units were stopped by Team Sonic. The Motobugs would soon after engage Team Sonic again, but the heroes easily wiped them out. Not long after, a Motobug would fight Team Sonic again and lose despite the heroes being short one member. Another batch of Motobugs also got defeated by Team Sonic when Eggman used them for another onslaught on said team.

The Motobugs eventually got infected by malware from Hypnobot, who made them attack the Village alongside other infected robots. There, their onslaught was kept at bay by Team Sonic, whose members eventually split up, leaving the Motobugs with fewer foes to deal with. As the battle raged on, the Motobugs slowly overwhelmed the remaining heroes, even after Og joined the fight, until the villagers began fighting back too. Hypnobot's control was subsequently broken, and the remaining Motobugs returned to Eggman. The Motobugs fell under Hypnobot's command again though when he and Eggman made an alliance. Joining the villains' army for an invasion of Morristown, the Motobugs met opposition from Team Sonic, Mighton and Bolts after arriving in the city until the heroes fell back when Hypnobot began turning the robots in the city against them. However, the Motobugs were defeated when the heroes returned with Team Cybonic as support and Hypnobot got destroyed.

Archie Comics
Some Motobugs were called in by Dr. Eggman to destroy Sonic, only to get smashed by Team Sonic. At the Eggtoberfest, hordes of Motobugs were also unleashed on the villagers by Eggman when he could not earn the villagers' trust. Fortunately, they were crushed by Team Sonic.

Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom
In Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, the Motobug is one of the enemies encountered during the stages. When they spot the playable characters, they will start driving towards them for a premature collision. Like other enemies, they can be defeated with a single attack.

In later updates to the game, the Motobug makes an appearance on the High Score menu, holding the thirteenth place with a score of 10,000 points.

Personality
Incapable of speech, the Motobugs are most of the time single-minded, ruthless in battle, and unquestioningly dedicated to their leader's orders. While they have no noteworthy personalities, they do possess an AI that grants them a degree of free will and emotional capabilities, allowing them to make their own choices and express things like dislikes, festive behavior, celebrative actions, surprise and even fear. Regardless of this, the Motobugs are weak-willed and depend on Eggman to avoid being sent to the scrapheap, meaning they cannot act independently for long before coming groveling back to the doctor.

As per their programming, the Motobugs will only obey orders after being threatened.

Powers and abilities
The Motobugs have moderate speed thanks to their design and are equipped with several additional abilities. They are capable of flight for aerial combat, possess a laser targeting system on their forehead, and can fire small energy beams. They are also each fitted with a retractable missile launcher/laser cannon for ground- and aerial combat. As Eggman robots, they are also able to receive power remotely from Eggman's lair.

Weaknesses
The Motobugs are rather clumsy and when they crash they are practically incapacitated. They are also fragile, as a simple well-aimed, and sometimes even weak, whack is enough to disable them. Their antennas are especially weak points as pulling them out will make them fall apart.

Being Eggman robots, the Motobugs rely on Eggman's lair to provide them with power. As such, should the lair run out of power, then they will too.

Trivia

 * The Motobug was the first Badnik-based robot from the Sonic the Hedgehog video games to appear in the Sonic Boom television series and the first to be addressed by name.
 * Coincidently, the Moto Bug was the first enemy encountered in the video games.
 * The Motobugs are the only Badniks whose name do not have the word "Bot" as a suffix.
 * According to Eggman, the Motobugs are costly to produce.
 * Bill Freiberger has explained that the reason the Motobugs have retained their name from their game counterparts is because their name describe what they are, as opposed to the Crabmeat/Crab Bot and Buzz Bomber/Bee Bot.