Crab Bot

The Crab Bot is a character that appears in the Sonic Boom franchise. It is a mass-produced, crab-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 Crab Bots come in many different sizes, the largest which are at Sonic's size while others are only half that size. As per their template, the Crab Bots resemble typical crabs. They have a dome-shaped body that is covered by a red shell with stubby spikes on top, six knife-like red legs with silver edges, and a pair of red pinchers with yellow claws. Finally, they have an wide silver faceplate resembling a skull, with two mandibles and cyan eyes with slit-like pupils.

Season one
When Tails invaded Eggman's lair to free UT, some Crab Bots would corner him before he gave his services to Eggman in exchange for UT's freedom. More Crab Bots were later stomped when trying to stop Team Sonic's rescue of Tails. The Crab Bots later 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. More Crab Bots were brought into battle against Sonic after Eggman turned Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks evil, only for Eggman's new allies to be returned to normal shortly after.

Some Crab Bots were brought to a revenge attack against Sonic and Tails at Sonic's Shack by Eggman, only to quickly get trashed. When Eggman later held a surprise party for Orbot and Cubot, several Crab Bots joined in on the festivities until Eggman brought them to a close. A lone Crab Bot later joined in helping Eggman train his reflexes with a game of laser tag, during which it lost to the doctor. Sonic (while stuck in Eggman's body) later assumed command of the Crab Bots and the other Eggman robots for an attempt to recover his body from Eggman. Another time, a Crab Bot and other Badniks were called in to battle Sonic after Eggman got out of a depression.

When he failed to sue Sonic legally, Eggman brought in some Crab Bots to fight him and Team Sonic. Some Crab Bots were soon after sent by Eggman to battle Team Sonic and undermine the speed-inhibited Sonic for Eggman's latest plan. More Crab Bots would later come with Eggman to attack Team Sonic when a time loop occurred. Aware of the loop, Eggman kept re-coordinating the Crab Bots for his attack until they got it right, but soon realized the time loop would undo their work.

Some time later, a Crab Bot came to see Orbot (who gave Crab Bot an advice) and Cubot off when the duo felt neglected by Eggman in favor of his new friend Nominatus. Not long after, the Crab Bots were taken over by Nominatus for the purpose of destroying all life forms. The computer virus sent several Crab Bots after Eggman and his lackeys who fled to Team Sonic, where the heroes held them off until Eggman's underlings beat Nominatus and stopped the Crab Bots. Another time, Eggman sent some Crab Bots and other robots after Sonic when he wanted personal payback at the hedgehog. The bots got trashed when Sonic's team came to the rescue however. The Crab Bots were later abandoned when Eggman gave up on technology. As the blundering Lightning Bolt Society took over Eggman's lair, the Crab Bots were sent on random attacks to the Village and around the lair until Team Sonic and Eggman retook the lair.

Multiple Crab Bots and other Badniks would be summoned by Eggman to kill Dave the Intern and destroy Chez Amy, but thanks to Team Sonic, they only accomplished the latter. Eggman also brought in his Crab Bots to force Monkey-Boy into his service. Team Sonic, however, would destroy all the Crab Bots. A number of Crab Bots were soon after summoned to the Mayor's Mansion by Eggman to find a form for his first law as ruler of the Village. Despite resistance from Knuckles, a Crab Bot found the form, only for Eggman to be stripped of his power. When Eggman finished his mind-enslavement movie, a number of Crab Bots attended its premiere, but when the movie ended up a failure, they were sent away by Eggman. Another time, Eggman brought some Crab Bots with him on an attack on Seaside Island, only for Team Sonic to destroy them in their track.

The Crab Bots tried later defending Eggman's lair from a Knuckles from another dimension, but failed miserably until Eggman caught him. Another time, several Crab Bots came with Eggman to the Valley of the Cubots to destroy the residential Cubot prototypes, only to be wiped out by their protectors, Sonic and Tails. The Crab Bots subsequently joined a mission Eggman 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 Crab Bots advertised Eggman Industries). With Team Sonic standing guard though, the Crab Bots would retreat. Another time, the Crab Bots helped protect Hypno-bot which Eggman used to steal Tails' inventions. As the Crab Bots held off Team Sonic, Tails got Hypno-bot to stop the Badniks by making them dance.

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

Season two
The Crab Bots would come with Dr. Eggman to retaliate against Tommy Thunder's "challenge" on TV. However, they all got smashed by Sonic when he came to Tommy's aid. Another time, the Crab Bots came with Eggman to ambush the Village while Sonic was stuck on another plane of existence. Though the Crab Bots and other Badniks overwhelmed Team Sonic at first, they were wiped out once Tails brought Sonic to the fight. More Crab Bots joined Eggman underwater to defend the Wave Machine from Sonic, Knuckles and Amy, who struggled to fight them in the sea. As the Crab Bots occupied Amy and Knuckles, one cut Sonic's air hose after he trapped some Crab Bots in sea weed. Regardless, the Crab Bots still lost to Team Sonic, who saved Sonic. Another time, the Crab Bots 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 abusive treatment, the Crab Bots joined 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). The Crab Bots would soon after engage Team Sonic again, but the heroes easily wiped them out. Not long after, more Crab Bots would fight Team Sonic at least twice over a few days and lose both times, despite Knuckles being occupied with other jobs. Another batch of Crab Bots also got defeated by Team Sonic when Eggman used them for another onslaught on said team. Going to the beach, Eggman brought some Crab Bots with him. There, he had them fight Team Sonic to no avail when Sonic upset him. Crab Bots also eventually engaged Knuckles and Sticks when Eggman put his next plan into motion, but they got taken out by Sonic once Team Sonic was fully assembled.

A while later, the Crab Bots got infected by malware from Morristown which made them attack the Village alongside Eggman's other robots. There, their onslaught was kept at bay by Team Sonic, whose members eventually split up, leaving the Crab Bots with less to deal with.

Archie Comics
Some Crab Bots were called in by Dr. Eggman to destroy Sonic, only to get smashed by Team Sonic. At the Eggtoberfest, Crab Bots hordes attacked the villagers on Eggman's orders when he could not earn the villagers' trust. Fortunately, the bots were crushed by Team Sonic.

Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom
In Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, the Crab Bot is one of the enemies encountered during the stages, though they do little more that serve as stationary obstacles. In this game, they are referred to as Crabmeat. Like other enemies, they can be defeated with a single attack.

In later updates to the game, the Crab Bot makes an appearance on the High Score menu, holding the fifteenth place with a score of 2,500 points.

Personality
Utterly silent, the Crab Bots are normally ruthless combatants, single-minded and unquestioningly dedicated to their leader's orders. Although they have no personalities, they do possess a degree of free will and emotional capabilities, allowing them to make their own choices and express things like dislikes, festive behavior and celebrative actions. Regardless of this, the Crab Bots 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 Crab Bots will only obey orders after being threatened.

Powers and abilities
The Crab Bots possess a pair of pinchers (which can be surprisingly sharp ) for offense and close combat. Their arms in particular have descend power behind their blows and are strong enough to lift Amy using one pincher only. They are capable of flight for aerial combat and are as well advanced climbers which can scale vertical surfaces. Additionally, they possess a laser targeting system on their forehead and can fire energy beams from guns on their neck.

As Eggman robots, the Crab Bots are able to receive power remotely from Eggman's lair. They are also completely waterproof, enabling them to operate underwater.

Weaknesses
Despite looking sturdy, the Crab Bots are rather fragile as a simple well-aimed whack is enough to disable them. Also, being Eggman robots, the Crab 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 Crab Bots are based on the Crabmeat, a Badnik who first appeared in both the Sega Genesis and the Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog. However, their name was changed so to better describe what they are.
 * The Crab Bot has its own action figure.
 * Eggman has his name and address written on the Crab Bots in case he loses them.