E-102 Gamma

E-102 Gamma (ガッマ) is a fictional character in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. He is 215 cm (7ft 1in) tall, weighs precisely 825.256 kg (1819.378 lb), and wields a machine gun that can transform into a 15.5 cm smart missile launcher. His character designer was either Yuji Uekawa or Takashi Iizuka. He was first introduced in the game Sonic Adventure as a playable character. Being a robot, he has no gender, but Amy refers to him as a "he" when she stops the fight between Sonic and Gamma, and his voice actor is male as well. Gamma's gameplay involves the player utilizing his missile launcher to destroy enemies and eventually reach a boss/target within a given time limit. The more enemies the player destroys, the larger the score and extension of time for the given level.

History
E-102 Gamma is a robot line created by Dr. Eggman. As such, it's name can refer to many characters in the Sonic universe. Nearly all Gamma models are identical in design, par slight modifications such as expanded weaponry. While they vary in rank, Gammas are considered a profound model by Eggman, and thus usually have a close role with their master, (somewhat replacing the traitrous Metal Sonic as a right-hand minion or personal muscle). Because of their form and origin however, nearly all E-102s play a tragic role in their starring game.

Original E-102Γ (Sonic Adventure)
E-102 Gamma, the second robot of the E-100 series line (technically third including E-100 Alpha), was created by Dr. Eggman. E-102 Gamma is powered by (and later influenced and ultimately controlled by) a captured pink Flicky held inside the robot. Although E-102 Gamma was created by and made to work under Dr. Eggman, assisting in empowering the Chaos creature, he turns against his maker's will, and devotes his short existence to freeing the animals contained in the other E-100 units.

Immediately upon his 'birth', he was ordered by Dr. Eggman to pass a unique training course and, to prove the most efficient built for his elite crew, fight his older 'brother', E-101 Beta, to become a crew member on the Egg Carrier. His first task on board involved capturing a frog who had absorbed Chaos' tail (namely Big's pet "Froggy" (which also held a Chaos Emerald that Eggman desired) in a contest against his younger brothers, E-103 Delta, E-104 Epsilon and E-105 Zeta. As a result of his success, Gamma was forced to watch his less successful brothers be exiled for their failure and remodelled for generic 'badnik' duty in undisclosed locations (Gamma is distinctly haunted by the memory of Delta turning to look at him as he was warped away; this memory comes up several times later in the game). Eggman then tells Gamma, now the sole elite robot, to acquire a bird from a girl (Amy Rose) held captive in a prison cell on the Egg Carrier. Upon searching for the cell, Gamma discovers E-101 Beta in a lab undergoing a torturous remodelling process. Though somewhat disturbed by this, he quickly disregards this and returns to his mission. After finding Amy, Gamma demands the bird only for Amy to bluntly refuse, her affection toward the animal confusing him. He quotes himself, "Why save that which is useless to you? Does not compute." The bird then flies up close to Gamma. Somehow affected by this, Gamma suddenly experiences an unbearable pain, before suddenly freeing both Amy and the bird from their cell, urging them to leave. Surprised and touched by this, Amy exclaims that Gamma must be different from the other robots.

Gamma has little time to deduce what he has just done before he is called up to the deck to dispose of the trespassing Sonic and Tails. A grueling battle ensues, though Amy stands in between them, begging them to stop and explaining to Sonic that Gamma is a friend. Both reluctantly submit to Amy's pleas and back down. As the Egg Carrier begins to lose altitude and slowly fall to the earth below, Amy encourages Gamma to free himself, explaining the virtues of friendship before they evacuate. Gamma flies to the Mystic Ruins and relooks his past and the words of Amy. After overlooking memories from his 'life', Gamma determines that Dr. Eggman is evil, and deletes his master registration program. He then decides to begin a 'rescue' mission, locating his newly registered "friends" (the rest of the E-100 series) and 'freeing' the birds or other animals trapped inside them.

Gamma first finds and destroys E-103 Delta the Windy Valley in Mystic Ruins, then locates E-104 Epsilon in Red Mountain on Angel Island, and destroys him as well. Afterward, he returns to the Egg Carrier to find E-101 Beta and E-105 Zeta. After destroying an upgraded (and much more heavily fortified) version of E-105 Zeta, he overlooks his progress, locating a final two E-series models; E-101 Beta and E-102 Gamma, himself. He goes to the deck for the final confrontation with an improved version of E-101 Beta, E-101 Beta MkII, his rebuild now complete. Gamma destroys Beta, but is severely damaged in the process. Beta, although he appears to be finished, gathers up a last ounce of strength and shoots Gamma at point-blank range. As he limps away from the battle field he inputs a final image, that of the family of birds located in the locket around the neck of the bird that Amy had. With that, Gamma deactivates and explodes, freeing the pink bird inside himself, while Beta's explosion frees the other bird. After that, they reunite with Amy's blue bird companion. The pink bird later follows Amy to Station Square after it is destroyed by Perfect Chaos. While Gamma himself could not be there, the bird represents him in spirit.

Despite Gamma's betrayal of Eggman, the doctor continued to build robots based on the E-102 model after Gamma's demise.

Sonic Shuffle
Gamma is one of the secret characters in Sonic Shuffle, in which the game's description listed him as "revived with the power of dreams". Like all players he holds a unique playing ability. If he plays a 4, 5, or 6 card, he'll change into wheel mode which will negate the effects of minus ring spaces. If he plays a special card during a battle, two roulettes will spin, and the sum of the two numbers will equal the damage done to an enemy. Gamma is unlocked (somewhat suitingly) after obtaining the final image in Amy's room.

E-1000 (Sonic Adventure 2)
The game Sonic Adventure 2 and its remake Sonic Adventure 2: Battle presented the E-1000. The E-1000 was a mass-produced variant of E-102 Gamma that served as a normal Badnik-style enemy, sporting a pair of cannon arms. Despite being paired for what may seem like double the firepower, the E-1000 line's weaponry, with low-velocity projectiles, and no homing feature, was generally far less effective than E-102's single missile launcher. As far as can be assumed by it's actions, the E-1000 are not sentient.

Chaos Gamma (Sonic Battle)
In Sonic Battle several used robot parts, including those of E-102, as well as his brain, are used to create a new robot named E-102 "Chaos" Gamma, a new robot powered by a Chaos Emerald shard. This line however was shortly postponed for the activation of the robot Emerl, an act that would play part later on. The new Gamma has several new weapons, such as a grenade launcher and an electric dagger, but does not have his original cannon or the 'headlight' mounted on his chest (this was likely done to allow his sprites to face both left and right without needing new sprites for both directions). During the game, Chaos Gamma makes numerous attempts to capture Emerl for his master.

After Emerl absorbs an Emerald shard, Chaos Gamma confronts him, now able to express his bitterness and jealously for stealing his intended shard. Cream however reasons with the robot and, after some long thought, he sacrifices his shard to Emerl. In the final chapter of the game, Emerl can train with Chaos Gamma as a sparring partner before the final challenge. It is unclear if this is because Chaos Gamma has become good again and turned on Eggman, or if like many characters bested by Emerl, he feels the need to pass along his fighting skills to him. All Gamma himself says is that he is ready to begin a training sequence. (Note that the challenge takes place in Gimme Shelter, and thus may be the same model that redeemed itself there earlier).

E-102 "Chaos" Γ is unlocked by beating him in story mode.

Also throughout the game the player would encounter and fight "Guard Robos", who are identical in equipment to Chaos Gamma, but are gray, notably less intelligent, and cannot teach fighting techniques.

Interestingly, other characters seem to know Gamma personally and treat his 'rebirth' as uneventful. Even characters who had little interaction with his original incarnation seem to acknowledge him as a friend. Notably, he no longer recognizes Sonic and his friends, as his original memories were most likely deleted after his initial destruction aboard the Egg Carrier. It is unknown if he will return.

E-123 Omega (Sonic Heroes)
Although not an actual rebuild, E-123 Omega's design was obviously based largely on that of E-102, maintaing his more dexterous appendages and his red hue. Personality-wise, Omega is to Gamma what Shadow is to Sonic, violent, rebellious and self-serving in nature, though like Gamma, he often shows signs of compassion and is a hero. Read the character's respective article for more information.

The E-102 model has been sparsely used as of recently. With Eggman using more formidable, advanced robot soldiers and his 'younger brother' Omega serving as a semi-replacement, it is debatable as to whether Gamma has become a 'retired character', though he was shown in a character poll for future appearances alongside his brother on the Sonic Channel website.

In other media
A less recognized Sonic character, E-102Γ has had a few sparse but notable appearances in other Sonic media. Nearly all appearances reference his original appearance in Sonic Adventure.

Comics
E-102Γ is depicted in the Archie-published Sonic the Hedgehog comics, namely in the Sonic Adventure story arc. While this adaption is somewhat loyal to the game, many later aspects, including his death, are never shown. It has been explained that many aspects of the game's story had to be compressed in order to fit into the comic's adaption, though it may be also due to the comic's rather different methods of robotization. Last seen departing from the Egg Carrier, Gamma's fate was never resolved, having only appeared in two issues (a number even obscure characters such as Nack, Heavy and Bomb have managed to outdo).

Though "Archie" made little use of Gamma, they continued to pay homage to him through the character Isaac, who design-wise is near identical to E-102, albeit with a completely golden hue. Interestingly, Issac is not an E-Series or even created by Eggman for that matter, the comic suggesting the resemblance to be a complete coincidense.

Despite both including elements from the Adventure arc, Gamma has not appeared in either the Archie Sonic X comic or Fleetway's Sonic the Comic.

Television
Sonic X also retells Gamma's storyline. This depiction is somewhat loyal to the game arc, almost down to a word for word re-enactment (though much of the game's dialogue is lost in the transition to the English dub), however rather than battling his brothers he finds them deactivated and uses a unique hacking device in his system to delete their master obedience program, and thus any need to hold their animal captives. This does not work on Beta however, who is still online and attacks Gamma. Gamma attempts to explain his fate to his brother and convince him to free himself but it falls on deaf ears and so, in a last ditch effort, he literally clashes with him, fatally wounding them both and 'freeing' their animal batteries. As they collapse and explode, their hands grasp into one anothers', as a touching final symbol of their unity. Unlike in Sonic Adventure, Amy saw Gamma 'die'.

Personality
Even though the E-Series is a robot line, nearly all exhibit a conscience and personality, opposed to their emotionless physical form and drone-like robotic dialect. Like most of Eggman's sentient robots, they usually betray their master, though unlike over-ambitious models such as Metal Sonic and E-123 Omega, Gamma's leave of duty is usually out of a compassion or remorse for his actions against Sonic and his friends.

The original E-102Γ is renowned for gaining his sentience and more or less being the first to portray the thoughts of an average Eggman robot. However, given his mindless actions as Eggman's slave, it is unknown if he gained sentience or had it all along but simply disregarded it at first. Even under evil alignment however, he holds a sensible and rational manner towards his enemies (in direct contrast to his belligerent, violent, partially-malevolent, borderline-insane younger brother and successor, Omega). However he becomes somewhat uncomfortable to vivid human emotions, to the point that the emotional conflict of his loyalty pains him, leading to his eventual leave of duty.

It should be noted that even when gaining a free will, Gamma still holds a rather regemented attitude and devotion to his mission. He considers his life less important than his friends' and is shown to fight selflessly for them to the brink of sacrificing himself, much like other heroes in the series, the only difference being that Gamma was actually given such an opportunity.

When Gamma is rebuilt in Sonic Battle, he does not act quite as free-willed but speaks somewhat less robotically. It is revealed that Gamma's personality is enhanced with the power of emeralds, much like Emerl, as exhibited by his more emotional, human-like dialect (he now speaks with contractions), however unlike the pacifistic original, Gamma unveils a rather bitter, violent personality, jealous of the robot that possessed his original Emerald and obtained his rightful 'power' (to the disdain of the fan community), that is only softened upon being reasoned with by Cream, much how Amy had to with him before, explaining how a friendship involves sacrifice and sharing.

In Sonic X, though depicted as the original, and therefore of similar personality, he was cast with being slightly more emotional and was capable of being frightened and disturbed even before he met Amy, even able to exhibit organic like exclamations such as groaning and at one point even producing a forlorn facial expression (also seen on Bocoe, Decoe & Bokkun). It still portrays Gamma's naivity towards good and evil however, perhaps best exhibited when he notices Big trespassing on deck, only to ignore him simply because he was supposedly never ordered to attack him.

E-102Γ, like many other Sonic characters, exhibits traits of a stock character, namely the "dark knight" or "tragic villain". Similarly, these characters are villians by loyalty alone and are usually not actually evil per se, often in fact exhibiting compassion and nobility towards their enemies. Like Gamma, their fate is usually a grim, yet noble end. This is enthesized in Sonic Battle, when Emerl, upon examining the malfunctioning Gamma, evokes sympathy for the price they must pay for serving as a weapon of Eggman.

Gamma's appearance speculates a rather tragic theory that all past robots created by Eggman, and thus destroyed by Sonic have a sentience and unique personality, though perhaps only Gamma is the first to accept and express his own.

Gamma the 'She'?
An odd fan debate is over the actual gender of the original Gamma as, despite its masculine personality, it is powered by a pink, possibly female Flicky. It should be noted however that robots rarely exhibit any similarities to their organic battery.

Doctor Eggman/Doctor Ivo Robotnik
His creator and the first person he sees upon 'birth', Gamma exhibited a strong sense of loyalty and devotion towards Robotnik, and as such, made his betrayal a painful and reluctant one. While he eventually turns on his master, he does not attack him directly, perhaps only seeing him as an unfriendly form to avoid rather than exhibiting an actual spite or hatred towards him. To add to this, Gamma remained a favourite with Robotnik, who seemingly never discovered his betrayal.

E-Series
In the latter half of his life, Gamma devotes himself to 'freeing' his E-Series brothers, whom having spent his life partnered with, assigns them as his friends. It is obvious the feeling is not mutual however, making his mission a strainuous task of battling each brother to the death until they explode and release their animal counterparts. Ironically, given the actions of the E-100s without direct order from Eggman suggests that that they too may have gained a sentience and independence, abeit a jealously and hatred for the brother who upstaged them and ultimately had them dismayed.

Amy Rose
Amy perhaps forms the largest bond with Gamma, eventually convincing him of his mission and his friends. Though originally seeing him as a "bully" for trying to take Birdie, (or 'Lily' in Sonic X), she envokes sympathy for him when it is made obvious even he does not understand the point of his loyalty, the thought of an emotionless being upseting her, little realising the effect this was taking on his programming. Ironically, while Gamma's act of heroism changed her view of Robotnik's robots, she is well known for her rather cold, violent desposal of them usually. Their bond is expanded upon in Sonic X, where Amy witnesses his death at the hands of E-101β. Though she had completed her goal of reuniting Lily's family, she was heartbroken by the sacrifice Gamma had made in order to fulfill it. Any connection with the two seems to have been severed in the later titles.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Having been trained since his creation to destroy him, Gamma obviously sees Sonic as an enemy of Eggman's. However, unlike other rivals, which are usually in the form of a grudge match, Gamma supposedly sees him simply as a target he is ordered to destroy, rather than a form he truly loathes (much how Sonic merely sees him as another of "Eggman's clunkers"). They are both unwilling to take their battle outside Amy's wishes however, and both back down. Interestingly, it is suggested in the dialogue of Sonic Battle that he and Sonic were both friends before his 'death' (and eventual 'rebirth' as the sinister "Chaos" Gamma), though this is never expanded upon in Sonic Adventure or it's 'Director's Cut' remake.

Love interests
Given his short lifespan and limited emotions, it is unlikely Gamma gained a romantic interest, though many comical shippings have occured in the fan community, such as with Amy or even NICOLE, a similar sentient computer. Despite this, it is of interest that the Gamma model has a somewhat amusing tendancy to form bonds with female characters, usually as a sign or staple of their truthful kind nature. In fact, the only prominent female characters not to have had a pivotal interaction with any version of any E-Series robots are Blaze the Cat, Maria Robotnik, Marine the Raccoon and Sally Acorn.

Abilities
As one of Eggman's destructive gunner robots, E-102 is built for battle. His main weapon is a machine gun that can internally transform into a 15.5cm missile launcher that can fire in rapid succession after locking on with a laser targeting device on his head. Due to the targeting device, E-102's shots are always accurate and allows the pinpoint accuracy to find an enemy's weakspot (As opposed to Omega, who simply shoots in all directions, hoping something will hit). In addition to his missile launcher, E-102 has a variety of modes to change his body frame to suit a situation. He features a normal, upright position when he is walking or moderately running; in a hurry, he transforms into a wheeled position to increase his speed, and when he encounters water or another insufficient place to walk, his feet fold in and a rotor appears from his torso, allowing him to float over the obstacle indefinitely. He also has a headlight attached to his torso, but it is never actually used in-game.

Eggman also installed Gamma with the ability to accept upgrades into his system. The upgrade Laser Blaster upgraded Gamma's weapon and allowed him to lock-on to an increased number of enemies and deal extensive damage. The Jet Booster permitted Gamma the ability to hover for some time and cross longer distances in the air. When rebuilt as "Chaos" Gamma, Gamma retains his wheeled and flying modes, and can make the Jet Booster appear behind him when needed. His cannon arm and targeting system are gone, but he can make several weapons appear on him. These new weapons include a large hand named the Solid Knuckle, a claw-like weapon named the Paralyze Dagger which can replace the arms to discharge electricity and fire energy blasts (similar to E-101 Beta mkII's arms), two large drills named the Buster Drill, and a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher known as the Blinker. He can also activate a manual reactor meltdown, where he creates a massive explosion that damages him and everything around him.

Conception and inspiration
E-102Γ is somewhat a staple in the Sonic series, being the first robot to be fully playable platform-wise and even exhibit a story. His whole life depicted on screen, he is arguably one of the most developed characters in the series.

Only two pieces of concept art have been found of Gamma, shown on various Sonic fansites. His most obvious basis is the EggRobo from the earlier games, though he also bears resemblance to many renowned battle robots in science fiction, particularly the ED-209 from the Robocop series, most obvious due to it's "chicken walker" design.

It is believed many fans asked for this shooting ability, but Sega and Sonic Team felt that Sonic the Hedgehog using a gun was inappropriate. The developers thus decided to make another character with this ability in lieu of giving Sonic a gun. In Sonic Adventure 2, this gameplay style was adopted for Dr. Eggman and Miles "Tails" Prower's mechanized walkers. However, in a recent Gamespot interview, a developer assessed Gamma's creation as simply because "Kids like robots".

Gamma and the Master Emerald?
In the duration of Sonic Adventure's story, it is never explained as to what method the Master Emerald is shattered in the beginning of Knuckles the Echidna's story. One fan theory is that, at some point in development, Gamma was to destroy the Master Emerald as an unused mission. While this has not expanded from speculation, there is some plauable evidence to support this.


 * During Gamma's story, there is a large time gap between his first and second mission, where this would have taken place, while most other characters have a stream-lined story, and Eggman's top priority being Chaos at the time.
 * It would be somewhat suiting for Gamma to assist in the release of Chaos, given he was created for the main purpose of nurishing and increasing his power.
 * When he is teleported through time by Tikal, it is somewhat odd of her erringly casual and familar nature towards him, let alone why she would teleport someone of evil alliance in the first place.
 * Another possible, yet subtle hint is in an image during the credits sequence, depicting Gamma hovering over the shattered Master Emerald, seeming somewhat misplaced in the usually pivotal screenshots. This image is also in the Museum of Sonic Gems Collection.

Voice actors

 * Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle - Jyoji Nakata (Japan)
 * Sonic Adventure, Sonic Shuffle - Steve Broadie (US; died June 19 2001)
 * Sonic Battle - Jon St. John
 * Sonic X - Andrew Rannells (US). Fans considered this voice completely out of character for Gamma, as it was very high-pitched as compared to the particularly deep voice he had in Sonic Adventure.

Trivia

 * Gamma is notably the first prominent character in the Sonic game series to die onscreen. This is often considered by fans to be the most poignant moment in the series, (which can be considered somewhat ironic, seeing as it is basically a dramatised enactment of an average Badnik death).
 * Within Gamma's story arc, he defeats Sonic, making him the first of Eggman's robots to canonically defeat Sonic in battle. This is succeeded only by Omega, though through a team battle. This may be debunked by the fact that most Sonic's, Tails, and Amy's stories show Gamma losing somewhat pathetically to Sonic, however.
 * Artwork of E-102Γ is also presented in the Sonic compilations and as cards in Sonic Rivals.
 * An odd effect takes place in Gamma's adventure mode in Sonic Adventure upon completing his story, creating a consistant night-time effect in the Adventure Fields. This happens also in Sonic Adventure DX, but resets upon entering Mission Mode.
 * In the Gimme Shelter hub world in Sonic Battle, other pieces of the E-Series can be seen in production, with a notable unknown green E-Series robot. It's official name and relation to Gamma are unknown.
 * If E-123 Omega receives an E-Rank in Sonic Heroes, he will reference his older brothers, proclaiming "I couldn't even beat Gamma or Beta."