Roboticizer



A fictional device from the SatAM, Sonic Underground, Archie Comics, and Sonic the Hedgehog universes, the Roboticizer transforms living organisms into metal through a process known as Roboticization. It was invented by Uncle Chuck and was stolen by Robotnik. Jules Hedgehog is the first roboticized Mobian.

Description
In SatAM, the device was originally created by Sir Charles "Uncle Chuck" Hedgehog with the intention of allowing the elderly to live longer. However, he was forced to abandon the project when test subjects began losing their free will. It was stolen by Dr. Robotnik, then known as Julian, Minister of War for the Acorn Kingdom of Mobius. Robotnik used the device to maintain his grip of terror over the planet, and in a moment of irony, Sir Charles was roboticized by his own creation. According to the Archie continuity, Sir Charles was also responsible for the roboticization of Sonic's father, Jules, and that Sir Charles had created the roboticizer so that the victims of the Great War (a conflict between the Mobians and the Overlanders) could be healed. This is where Jules, Sonic's father and Charles' younger brother, was the first to be roboticized by Charles as the first test subject.

The roboticizer in Sonic Underground appears to function differently than its counterparts. Its background is never delved into and it can be assumed that Robotnik was solely responsible for its creation. While the roboticizers of SatAM and Archie completely convert flesh into metal, the SU roboticizer only carries the process out on some of the body. The subjects therefore bear resemblance to cyborgs, although there are exceptions (e.g. Argus). Interestingly, they still speak in robotic voices even when their mouth remains organic.

Mentality
According to the SatAM series, although the roboticizer robs its victims of their free will, people who have been put through the process maintain their overall awareness of everything that is going on around them. They simply aren't in control of their actions. The "slave mind" effect can be fought, however. Sonic was able to help his Uncle Chuck regain his free will on multiple occasions, most notably through the use of emotion; Sonic finally managed to use his Uncle's emotional attachments and loyalties against his programming. However, if a subject is still roboticized, he or she can be plugged into a device that renders them subservient even after they have regained their free will.

In Sonic Underground, free will can be temporarily given to robians via use of the hedgehogs' medallions, although it requires a lot of their energy. While the hedgehogs encountered a Freedom Fighter that had been roboticized but retained his free will due to a malfunction in the roboticization process, there have never been any examples of a subject actively achieving free will in the same way that Uncle Chuck did in SatAM.

De-Roboticizer
The De-Roboticizer is a device that reverses the effects of Roboticization and was invented by Ceneca-9009. It would effectively render the Roboticizer useless. Unfortunately, the device suffers major drawbacks. In the Archie Comics, the De-Roboticizer models built on Mobius are unrefined, and also potentially lethal. In SatAM, the device's effects are only temporary, though they do allow the user to retain their free will. This happened in the case of Bunnie Rabbot and Sir Charles Hedgehog.

By far, the worst De-Roboticizer is found in Sonic Underground. In reality, the device is a fake, designed to scam money out of fearful aristocrats. The device supposedly restores people to normal, and can even serve to immunize them against Roboticization. Sadly, the device is a fraud, and Robotnik even made it into a Roboticizer to use on the Royal Hedgehogs as a trap. However, just as Sonia the Hedgehog was about to be roboticized, the inventor grew a conscience and pushed her out of the way, in the process getting himself roboticized.

The Robotizer
The Robotizer is a device appearing in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, which is similar to the Roboticizer but alien in origin. The Robotizer was created by the alien Bem and far predates the Roboticizer. The Robotizer has the ability to turn any flesh being into a robot equivalent, and any metal being into a flesh equivalent. It was created to turn the metallic alien Biotexans into flesh creatures, but this resulted in their death. As of Sonic the Hedgehog issue #123, every Robian (Roboticized Mobian) has been de-robotized with very few exceptions (such as Bunnie Rabbot and Sonic's father Jules, whose organic bodies would be unable to sustain themselves if they were de-robotized).

Trivia

 * The earliest Roboticizer seen in the Sonic cartoons, or at least a device that can turn living beings into robots, was in AoSTH episode #48 "Blackbot the Pirate". Robotnik used a ray gun called the Robot-Transmogrifier Ray on Blackbeard to turn him into a robot, and later roboticized a whale to eat Sonic and Tails.