E-123 Omega (Archie)

This article is about the robot E-123 Omega who debuted in the comic issue Sonic Universe'' #3. For the article about the robot E-123 Omega who debuted in the video game Sonic Heroes and seeks revenge on Doctor Eggman see E-123 Omega.''

E-123 "Omega" is a powerful and dangerous battle robot created by Dr. Eggman in 3236 as the 123rd and final unit of the E-100 Series line. Although kept in storage for over a year, Omega was finally released in the year 3237 with a mission to destroy the rogue robot E-102 Gamma. Although successful in his mission, Gamma managed to reprogram Omega to grant him free will before being destroyed. Following this and a conversation with Shadow (who had been sent to recruit Gamma by G.U.N.), Omega decided to follow in his "brother's" footsteps and fight the Eggman Empire as an agent of the United Federation's defence forces, the Guardian Units of the Nation. His first mission as a G.U.N. agent was to accompany Shadow and Rouge as part of the newly formed Team Dark to the Special Zone to retrieve a Chaos Emerald, which they did successfully after some complications made by the Zone's master, Feist.

Creation
Omega was built in 3236 and designed as the one hundred and twenty third and final model of Eggman's E-100 Series robots, specifically made for combat against Eggman's greatest enemy, Sonic the Hedgehog. But he wasn't activated until a year later and had been left in storage for all that time.

First Mission
After reactivating the war machine in the Eggdome's storage room in the ruins of New Megaopolis, Eggman gave Omega his first mission to hunt down and destroy E-102 Gamma. At first, Omega refused his mission as Eggman had left him in storage for over a year and he was built to destroy Sonic the Hedgehog, but his mission was to destroy something else. Eggman informed Omega that he alone would kill Sonic and threatened to put him back in storage for a decade if Omega did not follow orders. Omega then left to begin his mission as Eggman and Snively watched him leave from the landing bay of the Eggdome, leaving his master to his final battle with Sonic that would lead to his fall into insanity and Snively and the Iron Queen's coup d'état on the Eggman Empire.

After locating E-102 Gamma in the remote mountains hours later, Omega was forced to battle the rogue robot as well as G.U.N. agent Shadow the Hedgehog. Delighted to fight an opponent stronger than Sonic, Omega focused on Shadow until Gamma fired at him and Omega realized that his mission objective was there too. Shadow then attacked Omega and told Gamma to get to the extraction point while he distracted Omega. Intent on completing his mission, Omega temporarily disposed of Shadow by using his arm cannon to capture and blast him away. Omega then chased after Gamma and exchanged monologues via radio. While Omega stated how he was superior to Gamma in every way, Gamma pointed out that Omega's superiority had downsides that could be used to his advantage, and that his own downsides that Omega pointed out were advantages for him as well. Eventually, Gamma admitted he was outdated, just as Omega said and that the resistance forces would need something more than him to fight the Eggman Empire. Accepting this as surrender, Omega prepared to give Gamma a "glorious destruction" by unleashing all his weapons on him at once out of respect. Telling Omega his soul will remain even if he is destroyed, Gamma uploaded some of his programming into Omega before his robotic body was destroyed by Omega's barrage. A brown Flicky then flew away from what remained of Gamma afterwards, while Omega became overwhelmed by his new programming and free will.

Gaining Free Will and Joining G.U.N.
After Shadow arrived seconds after E-102's destruction, "Gamma" spoke through Omega, informing them that he uploaded his coding into Omega. The coding integrated into Omega and the two entities became one. With a new feeling of purpose, Omega was convinced by Shadow to join G.U.N. and fight against the Eggman Empire like Gamma would have, and to also get his revenge on Eggman for keeping him in storage and wasting his potential. After Omega created a grave marker made out of rocks for Gamma, he and Shadow were picked up by a G.U.N. helicopter and brought back to G.U.N. HQ where Omega met Chief Commander Abraham Tower, who considered Omega as an excellent "replacement" for Gamma. Omega was then examined by Hope Kintobor, who was amazed to find out that half of Omega's body weight was in ammunition, jokingly calling him a "monster" when she discussed the examination with Shadow and Rouge in the recreation room later on.

Member of Team Dark
After Shadow and Rouge failed to obtain a Chaos Emerald from Feist in the Special Zone, Shadow engaged in some violent training in G.U.N. HQ's gym with Omega, who noticed Shadow was "agitated" due to him wanting to fight Omega on his own instead of Omega starting it as usual. Omega said that Shadow should not let his failure concern him, as Omega had been cleared for active duty and would accompany Shadow and Rouge on their next attempt to obtain an emerald in the Special Zone, saying they'll have an advantage with him because he will "blast" Feist, angering Shadow to which he knocked Omega to the floor. Omega was then left wondering if it was something he had said as he watched Shadow leave the gym. After some discussion with Hope, Shadow was convinced by her that they would be better prepared for Feist next time and he then went to the Special Zone again with Rouge and Omega as part of the newly formed Team Dark. Upon arrival, Omega immediately wished to consume both the Zone and Feist, who had called him a "tin soldier", with "fire", but Shadow denied him permission for the former, and told him to "Get in line" for the latter. Omega and the rest of Team Dark were then given a new challenge by Feist; to retrieve the Chaos Emerald from the centre of a cube-shaped maze. They found the emerald above a floor of spikes, but failed to retrieve it in time as Feist encased it within a wall of multi-coloured gems which they failed to penetrate in time. Feist then teleported Team Dark and the emerald out of the maze and began to mock them. The trio then initiated "Plan B", much to Omega's pleasure. Omega, as part of the plan, attacked Feist with his weapons full in the face as a distraction while Rouge and Shadow stole the emerald from the zone's master. Feist became enraged by this, but Team Dark escaped thanks to Shadow's use of Chaos Control that had been enhanced by the power of the Chaos Emerald, much to Omega's displeasure as he had five salvos left. Omega and the two Mobians then returned to G.U.N. HQ, and Rouge complimented Omega on his work, earning an embarrassed look from the robot who said it was "only a small megaton of ordinance". Shadow then gave Commander Tower the Chaos Emerald, who was more than satisfied with their success at making G.U.N. an even greater "force to reckon with".

Abilities
Omega is described as being a "walking arsenal" due to being equipped with over three dozen forms of weaponry mainly concealed in his arms (somewhat similar to that of Grounder) and upper body. His armoury consists of rapid-fire machine guns, flamethrowers, lasers blasters, missile launchers, cannons and many more weapons, giving him "more firepower than all of the old Badnik horde combined." The ammunition needed to fill these weapons is said, by Hope Kintobor, to make up half his overall body weight. He has also displayed considerable physical strength, making him capable of destroying thick trees by either smashing them with his metal fists or using his claws to slash through them. Omega also tends to break G.U.N.'s training equipment when using it because of his strength. Although Omega is primarily a "walking arsenal," he seems to also have been programmed with a limited knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, as he could deflect some of Shadow's attacks during a sparring match while attempting to get in some of his own but to no avail, only for Shadow to push him to the floor once he became aggravated. All his abilities make him a capable opponent against many enemies, whether they are advanced fighter robots, beings with enhanced Mobian and alien abilities, or even entities with god-like powers.

Omega is equipped with remarkably strong armour that can withstand powerful laser blasts by elite fighter robots such as Gamma, and strong fast blows from powerful opponents such as Shadow. Omega can also utilize a jet booster built into his back to help accelerate and fly long distances, making him somewhat fast.

Omega can use radio waves to talk with other Eggman robots and has sensors that allow him to detect energy signatures in various objects, areas, and beings. Some of his weapons seem to be specifically made for combat with Sonic, such as his arm cannon that was able to capture and launch Shadow when he performed a spin-dash, one of Sonic's signature moves. Omega is equipped with anti-virus systems to "purge" any malicious programs and make sure he doesn't get infected. Omega also seems to be made to go across different terrains as well since he was able to get around the snow laden mountains with ease and could smash trees with his bare hands, which are natural obstacles that could get in his way all over Mobius.

Personality
Like many of Eggman's other robots, Omega was programmed with a limited personality, but thanks to Gamma's upload, it expanded a considerable amount and gave him free will. At first, Omega was only a rather rebellious character, immediately refusing his first mission from Eggman out of anger as he believed it to be beneath him as he was made to destroy Eggman's greatest foe, not a defective robot. He, like many other of Eggman's robots, also seemed to fear his creator when he threatened to shut him back down for a decade after not wanting to carry out his first orders. His trait of rebellion later developed immensely thanks to Gamma, where Omega all out betrayed Eggman and went to work for G.U.N. to fight the Eggman Empire as part of Team Dark and get his revenge, ending his fear of his creator.

Omega is somewhat arrogant and prideful, making him think other Eggman robots (especially older models) and his enemies are inferior to him, that he is the most powerful and will jump at any chance to prove so (usually through battle with another), no matter how powerful that being is. Currently, Omega's only goals in life are to take revenge on Eggman for disabling him and carry on Gamma's mission. His pride of being a destructive war machine is a major part of him, and even threatened to turn Shadow into "linked sausage" if he told anybody at G.U.N. he showed himself to be weaker than usual by building a grave marker and "whining" about not knowing his purpose in life. Although his pride will make him do anything to prove how powerful he is (such as battling powerful opponents), Omega will not let it get in the way of his current mission objective and won't stop until it is complete.

Despite the fact that Omega has received the more peaceful Gamma's programming, Omega still likes to use destructive methods, battle with powerful opponents (even if they're his allies), and purge things with "fire" no matter what the situation is, (as long as it doesn't involve destroying life, as the very thought of it makes him "uneasy"). Stereotypical of most robots, Omega occasionally uses somewhat lengthy words, but most of the time uses casual Human speech.

In respect to Omega's relationships, he has few, but the most significant was with Gamma, whom he showed respect for even before his greater personality came to be. His relationship with Eggman is one of revenge for never using him to destroy Sonic the Hedgehog. At first, Omega's relationship with Shadow was that of an enemy, but after gaining his new personality and emotions, Omega and Shadow appear to be on more peaceful grounds and may even be on its way toward friendship, although they do appear to have a small rivalry between each other which they express while training their fighting skills with each other. His relationship with Rouge seems to be on friendly terms as Rouge has actually felt free to be angry with Omega and call him things like "pyro" without fear, and Omega even seemed a touch embarrassed when she complimented him on how he had taken on Feist after they had retrieved the Chaos Emerald.

Romance
Although Omega is a robot with emotions any living being has and has shown no strong romantic feelings towards anyone, he did show a touch of embarrassment when Rouge complimented him on doing a job well done with attacking Feist, possibly meaning he feels somewhat attracted to her. It is likely that this is the only form of romantic feelings Omega will ever show, as Ian Flynn says while there is "definitely room to explore what extremely meager characterization Omega has," him having romantic feelings is "so far beyond the scope of his character right now that it is beyond serious consideration." Three days after he made this statement, Flynn had Omega fall in love in his unnofficial character role-playing Q&A in February 2009 with none other than NICOLE, after she stated that she, in theory, had destructive capabilities superior (if not equal) to Omega's own.

Trivia

 * The previous writers of the comic once had Omega as a possible character to be introduced in the issues following Sonic the Hedgehog: #134, but the idea was scrapped like many other ideas both for and after that issue. Current writer, Ian Flynn, also planned on using Omega in the milestone Sonic the Hedgehog: #175, but SEGA asked that they not use him. Archie finally managed to convince SEGA to let them use Omega in Sonic Universe to complete Team Dark. Why SEGA didn't want Omega released into the comic earlier is unknown.
 * Omega and Gamma have been known to get mixed up by those who are unfamiliar with the Sonic the Hedgehog series, despite them having distinct design differences.
 * Omega's design was used for Dr. Ivo Kintobor's Omega Care Unit in issues following Sonic the Hedgehog: #193 with minor changes. The most prominent of these changes were colouring differences, the Omega symbol being replaced by the dove and olive branch peace sign, and the armaments being changed to non-lethal weaponry. Although the early prototype designs for the care unit looked more like E-102 Gamma than Omega. The design was changed to be like Omega's over the years because "it seemed to lend itself better to housing a mobian, and it seemed much more apt for  [ Buns's ]  character." According to Ian Flynn.

Design Information

 * Tracy Yardley's design of Omega is mainly based on that of his appearance in Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog, but design elements from Omega's other game appearances have also been worked in, such as the sharper fingers on his hands from Sonic the Hedgehog. Steven Butler's depiction of Omega in the Off-Panel of Sonic Universe: #3 also appears to be based off his Sonic Heroes design, and even mirrors it more closely than Yardley's. But Butler changed his depiction of Omega in Sonic Universe: #4's Off-Panel to mirror that of his appearance in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, as evidenced by Omega having Omega symbols on both shoulders instead of just the one.
 * On the covers of Sonic Universe Omega appears in, he is depicted with a metal plate between his eyes just like in the games, but it is only on covers and not in the book itself. This is probably because artists put much more detail into the covers than the comic itself and the fact that the plate is barely noticeable anyhow, with the exception of 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog.