Robotropolis (Archie)

Robotropolis is a location that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog and its spin-off comic series published by Archie Comics. Formerly known as Mobotropolis, and sometimes Old Mobotropolis, it was the first ever multi-cultural city on Mobius and the capital of the Kingdom of Acorn. It was originally created by a collective group of Mobians under the leadership of Alexander, the first King in the Acorn Dynasty. Centuries later, the city was captured during Dr. Ivo Robotnik's coup d'état and became the capital city of his global empire, rechristened "Robotropolis". It was briefly reclaimed after Robotnik's apparent demise, but reclaimed by his successor, Dr. Eggman. Over eleven years later, the city was subsequently destroyed by a nuclear strike from Station Square, though the toxic radiation was contained within the city's dome shield.

Creation
Mobotropolis was first created hundreds of years ago, after the Mobian Alexander decided that people could benefit from the combined efforts of a variety of different species. After its completion, the citizens made Alexander their king, as he was ultimately responsible for their communion and the city's construction.

The Golden Age
Due to the Mobian's philosophy to preserve nature, the Kingdom of Acorn and the city of Mobotropolis' technological development quickly stagnated and remained in an pre-industrial and medieval state. This changed dramatically when King Frederick Acorn took in the exiled Overlander scientist Nate Morgan. Before being taken in, Nate had been working on the development of the Power Rings - a clean, alternative fuel supply that would have replaced the toxic fossil fuels heavily used by his people. During Nate's tenure in Mobotropolis, he successfully made stable Power Rings, and the Mobians applied the technology to make Mobotropolis a modern city. Following Frederick stepping down and his son, Maximillian Acorn, assuming the mantle as king, Mobotrpopolis suffered a major setback. The current Warlord Kodos and the Royal Wizard Ixis Naugus felt threatened by the potential of Nate Morgan, and thus staged a conflict between the Overlanders and Kingdom of Acorn, letting the blame fall to Nate who subsequently left of his own free will.

The Great War
After Nate's self-imposed exile, skirmishes between the Mobians and Overlanders continued to persist, though at first they were relatively small.. This changed when Kodos discovered two scouts who had mutually decided to report to their own kind that the other side was of no threat, hoping to avert further fighting. Kodos had the two killed and sent the bodies back to their respective home territories, each with a note saying "this is what happens to all who oppose us". Each side now believed they were dealing with savages, and thus the Great War began.

Because the Mobians' refusal to use gun-like weapons (due to the Paladin Incident in which Prince Emerson Acorn was accidentally killed by a pistol), the Overlanders had a strong military advantage. Mobotropolis came under siege of mortar rounds within the first year of the war, with many of its structures being destroyed. The tides of the war changed in the Mobians' favour after the Overlander Julian Kintobor defected and began upgrading the Mobian arsenal, using his knowledge of the enemy to their advantage. After the Great War's end with the Mobians victorious, Mobotropolis was rebuilt.

Transformation to Robotropolis
Shortly after the Great War ended, the kingdom's Warlord, Julian Kintobor, took over the city using his hordes of SWATbots. The majority of the city's population was captured and roboticized, though some managed to escape to the sanctuary of Knothole in the Great Forest, including the members of the Original Freedom Fighters, King Maximillian Acorn's daughter Sally and a few other children who would later become the Knothole Freedom Fighters. The city was subsequently rechristened Robotropolis, and became the capital of Dr. Ivo Robotnik's global empire. Most of the city was converted to factories.

Near destruction
Over the next decade there had been many attempts to retake the city, usually as the Freedom Fighters attempted to sabotage various facilities. However, when an earthquake threatened to level the entire city, Robotnik temporarily retreated to an evacuation craft with his nephew Snively and as many SWATbots as the ship could carry. Sally, ´Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic's Uncle Chuck used the time to deroboticize as many of the city's Robians as possible, and barely escaped the city themselves. When Robotnik returned, he planned on using a force-field to keep any intruders out while the city was being rebuilt, but Snively activated it too early, causing them to crash against it.

Eventually, Robotnik managed to rebuild the city, before a grievous blunder was committed on his part. He had not properly safeguarded a supply of nuclear warheads, and had to retreat to a bomb shelter when he saw Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles about to crash into the stockpile. Upon their detonation the damage was even more severe than before, and reconstruction was further delayed when Sonic sent Nack the Weasel's ion-powered sky-sled on auto-pilot and set it to self destruct within the city, leading to yet another major explosion in Robotropolis that could be felt from Knothole Village.

Later, as Robotnik had plans elsewhere, he left Snively in charge of his city. As soon as Robotnik took off for the Death Egg, however, Snively ordered all of the SWATbots to stop reconstruction and instead used them to pamper himself and dubbed the city Snivopolis. Once the Death Egg was destroyed, Robotnik returned and was quick to put an end to his nephew's actions.

Recapture and Loss
After numerous engagements against the Knothole Freedom Fighters, Robotnik was eventually destroyed by his own weapon, the Ultimate Annihilator, as Snively had tampered with the device. The Mobians then retook the city and began the tedious task of restoring it to its former glory. For a while, the city actually returned to some semblance of it pre-war state. When Sonic and Tails returned from their globe-trotting quest to stop Ixis Naugus, they discovered that a number of businesses and entertainment centers had been opened, including the Deer John's juice bar owned by John and Jane Doe.

However, the arrival of an alternate universe version of Robotnik (now calling himself Dr. Eggman) spelled disaster for Mobotropolis. Dr. Eggman was able to retake the city with relative ease, distracting the Freedom Fighters by leading them to his satellites in orbit, and then launching hordes of Shadowbots to reclaim the city. When the Mobians fled to Knothole, Eggman once again renamed the city to Robotropolis. King Max and Queen Alicia later decided to formally establish Knothole as the new seat of the kingdom and leave the corrupted city to Eggman.

Destruction
Robotropolis was later destroyed utterly in a nuclear strike by Station Square. The harmful fallout is currently kept within the former site of the city by a shield originally designed to protect the city. Fort Acorn exists just outside of the city to ensure no one attempts to sabotage the force field. In Operation: Triple Threat, Eggman attempted to destroy the barrier around Robotropolis, and poison the surrounding areas. The fallout within is being siphoned to provide energy for New Mobotropolis.

Legacy
The original Castle Acorn which formerly existed in Mobotropolis was re-created in New Mobotropolis by Nicole through Nanites. Meanwhile, the radioactive fallout contaminating the ruins of the city serves as the primary source of power for New Mobotropolis, and is also used in the creation of Power Rings produced by a recreation of the Lake of Rings located in the city.

The power siphon that turns the waste into energy for Nicole to use was rebuilt underground after the Iron King tried to destroy the old one.

Trivia

 * When the Bem pitted Eggman and Snively against Mecha Sonic and Mecha Tails, a holographic recreation of Robotropolis became their battleground.
 * It is unknown how the shield generator continued to function after the city was destroyed.