Mantis Bot

The Mantis Bot is a character that appears in the Sonic Boom franchise. It is a mass-produced, mantis-based Badnik model created by Dr. Eggman, and one of the doctor's newest classes of robotic foot soldiers.

Appearance
Based on the praying mantis, the Mantis Bots have thin and elongated bodies and spikes down their back. They possess a red metathorax with a black and grey underbelly, a black mesothorax, and a red upper torso with sharp shoulders. On their metathorax, they have two pairs of thin insect legs. The first pair is set on the sides. Thicker than the other pair, these legs are red with grey undersides and yellow feet, and point away from the torso. The second pair of legs are placed closer to the Mantis Bots' belly and are mostly grey and black with long and red claws. The Mantis Bots also have red raptorial forelegs with serrated cyan blades for claws. Finally, they have a black neck, a red head with cyan glass over their cyan eyes (which has slit-like pupils), and two yellow antennas.

Season two
The Mantis Bots first appeared when Dr. Eggman brought them along for an attack on Team Sonic. Their debut performance was a poor one though, as they were no match for Team Sonic. The Mantis Bots later aided Eggman on an excavation search for Ancient mech suits. On Eggman's second order though (as they misread his first), the Mantis Bots would attack Team Sonic when they showed up, only to get crushed by the heroes. On Eggman's orders, the Mantis Bots tried to attack Sonic when Mombot had him over for a playdate with Eggman, but they withdrew when Mombot disapproved of this. Another time, Eggman brought some Mantis Bots to a battle with Nominatus and his gang. There, the Mantis Bots fought Nominatus' Caterpixels until Nominatus and his gang were stopped and captured.

Eggman soon attacked the Village with his Mantis Bots. There, they cornered a lone Sonic, as Eggman had intended. however, Sonic's team soon came and helped trash the Mantis Bots. Eggman later thought Team Sonic had stolen change from him, so he sicced his Mantis Bots on them. As the Badniks got crushed by the heroes, Mighton and Bolts intervened to avenge the Mantis Bots. A few hours afterward, the other Mantis Bots 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 Mantis Bots with fewer foes to deal with. As the battle raged on, the Mantis Bots 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 Mantis Bots returned to Eggman. The Mantis Bots fell under Hypnobot's command again though when he and Eggman made an alliance. Joining the villains' army for an invasion of Morristown, the Mantis Bots 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 Mantis Bots were defeated when the heroes returned with Team Cybonic as support and destroyed Hypnobot.

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice
In Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, the Mantis Bot made a cameo appearance amongst the sneak peaks at the concept artworks for the second season of Sonic Boom. Its concept artwork can be unlocked for one hundred Ragnium shards in Sonic's Shack.

Personality
Said to be bigger, meaner, and more dangerous than the classic Badniks, the Mantis Bots are silent, ruthless in battle, single-minded and unquestioningly dedicated to their leader's orders. Other than that, they do not have any noteworthy personalities, despite possessing an AI. They are also not very intelligent, and can take their orders very litterally.

Like their template, the Mantis Bots leap just like actual mantises.

Powers and abilities
The Mantis Bots are equipped with serrated blade-based claws on their arms which they use for combat. For long-ranged attacks, they can detach their claws and throw in a boomerang-like fashion. As Eggman robots, they are also able to receive power remotely from Eggman's lair.

Weaknesses
Despite their updated design, the Mantis Bots are very fragile, just like the classic Badnik. Also, being Eggman robots, the Mantis Bots 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 Mantis Bots were first revealed in the concept art featured in Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice.
 * The Mantis Bots were the last new Badniks revealed in the concept art from Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice to appear in the Sonic Boom television series.
 * According to Bill Freiberger, the Mantis Bots were not based on a particular enemy from the Sonic the Hedgehog video games.
 * Despite this, they can detach their claws and throw them like the Slicer, a mantis-based Badnik from the video games.