Badnik (IDW)

The Badniks are a group that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by IDW Publishing. It is Dr. Eggman's personal robot army, consisting of robots of various designs that Eggman uses as foot soldiers in his efforts to conquer the world.

While most Badniks have their own mechanical power supplies, some of them use organic batteries in the form of small animals. These animals are kept alive inside the Badniks until they are set free or their Badnik is destroyed.

Units more powerful than regular Badniks are designated "Super Badniks". These models are much more of a threat than regular Badniks and are occasionally even a threat to Sonic.

The War and aftermath
Just before the end of the war between the Resistance and the Eggman Empire, a group of Badniks were driven back from a town thanks to the efforts of Rough and Tumble. The two then lied about improving the town's defenses in order to take the town's arsenal and keep the citizens imprisoned within their own town. With more Badniks stalking outside the town's wall, the citizens were forced to do whatever the duo said. The Badniks stalking outside of the town consisted of at least Egg Pawns and Death Egg Robot sentinels.

After Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies liberated their world from the Eggman Empire, Dr. Eggman disappeared while his global Badnik army remained, having been spread everywhere across the globe. Without a leader however, the Badniks were directionless and no longer a unified threat. Even so, they would still randomly attack anyone they came across (although such incidents were more accidental than aggression-based ). The actions of the Badniks forced the Resistance to be more proactive and handle the rogue Badnik gangs' attacks.

During their investigating to uncover Dr. Eggman's whereabouts, the Chaotix had several run-ins with rogue Badniks.

Fallout
Eventually, the Badniks came under the control of Neo Metal Sonic, who made their army more cohesive. Under his command, the Badnik troops began attacking villages.

During the following period, Sonic the Hedgehog came to the rescue of a small town besieged by Egg Pawns and Moto Bugs. While smashing small-fry Badniks that were attacking the civilians, Sonic got ambushed by some Egg Hammer Super Badniks. Thanks to the timely arrival of Tails though, the two heroes managed to destroy the Egg Hammers and the rest of their troop. Soon after, a Flapper watched Sonic travel away from the town, which had Neo Metal Sonic watching the visual feedback and planning his next moves with it.

A Death Crab soon after attacked another town in order to occupy Sonic and Amy while an army of Egg Pawns and Egg Walkers invaded the town from another direction. The Death Crab was eventually defeated by the combined efforts of Sonic and Amy however, who then caught onto what the other Badniks were up to. Soon after, the Badniks' first invasion wave made it inside the town. However, Sonic showed up and thinned out their numbers. Those that slipped past Sonic eventually made into the town's square. There, they got gunned down by the town's residential forces, who had been organized for battle by Amy. Although the rest of the Badniks continued their advances, their numbers got thinned out by Sonic and Amy so the town could handle the remaining ones. The duo eventually came across a Blowfish Transporter, which was releasing more Badniks. Utilizing their Croquette Bomber technique, they easily defeated flying Badnik, ending the invasion. Meanwhile, Neo Metal Sonic's Flapper continued to observe Sonic for him. More Badniks, including a Death Egg Robot sentinel, who had surrounded the town under the control of Rough and Tumble, soon after got destroyed by Knuckles when he came to check up on said town. After Sonic and Knuckles then liberated the town from the skunk brothers, the town was finally safe from both the two mercenaries and the Badniks that were stalking outside the town. Unbeknownst to anyone, Neo Metal Sonic's Flapper would record the aftermath for him.

A large battalion of Egg Pawns and giant Motobugs onboard a battleship variant of a Buzz Bomber soon after attacked Tangle the Lemur's home town, with the battleship dropping Badniks into the town. Although the Badniks were met with opposition from the town's militia, Tangle, and new arrivals in the form of Sonic and Blaze, they were able to keep replenishing their ranks with more Badniks from their battleship faster than the heroes could dispose of them. However, Tangle and Blaze eventually got Sonic inside the Badniks' battleship, which Sonic trashed from the inside, causing it to crash outside of town (with a nudge provided by Blaze), with all of the Badniks inside it perishing in the process.

The Fate of Dr. Eggman
When Sonic and Espio met up, they came under attack by a gang of Badniks. However, this batch was no match for the two heroes. More of them later attacked a nearby village, but Sonic and the Chaotix were able to destroy them, including a Flapper surveying them.

When Neo Metal Sonic made his move to invade Angel Island, he used Egg Pawns to man his numerous Egg Fleet battleships. When Sonic later invaded one of these battleships, the Egg Pawns failed to notice him. Eventually though, Sonic ended up in a room with Egg Pawns and Neo Metal Sonic. When Sonic tried to bail out, Neo Metal Sonic used Egg Pawns to attack him. Sonic, however, took care of the Badniks and ultimately escaped. Regardless, the rest of the Egg Pawns carried on with the invasion plan under the orders of Neo Metal Sonic. In the meantime, some Spinas stationed in one of Eggman's bases tried to stop Sonic when he infiltrated their base, but their initial troops got destroyed by Sonic, Silver and Whisper. Soon after, in the center of the base, E-107 Theta and more Spinas attacked the trio of heroes. Although they put up a good fight, this horde of Badniks was still destroyed by the trio.

The Battle for Angel Island
After Neo Metal Sonic conquered Angel Island and turned it into a flying fortress, Egg Pawns and Spinas were stationed around the island. However, these Badniks soon after came under attack by the Resistance and their allies, who sought to liberate Angel Island. Although the Badniks were no match for the heroes, they were able to slow down their efforts. In the end though, the Resistance and their allies succeeded in destroying the massive wing units added to Angel Island's shoreline that gave Neo Metal Sonic control over the island, leaving the Badniks on the wings to plummet down from the sky with them.

While undergoing Dr. Starline's memory-restoring procedures, an amnesiac Eggman, who at the time was a reformed handyman, would built a Moto Bug that trimmed shrubs in the likeness of Sonic.

List of Badniks

 * Anton
 * Blowfish Transporter
 * Buzz Bomber
 * Buzz Bomber (battleship variant)
 * E-106 Eta
 * E-107 Theta
 * Egg Pawn
 * Egg Walker
 * Flapper
 * Hoverby
 * Metal Sonic
 * Neo Metal Sonic
 * Master Overlord
 * Super Neo Metal Sonic
 * Moto Bug
 * Moto Bug (tank variant)
 * Spina

Super Badniks

 * Death Crab
 * Death Egg Robot sentinel
 * Egg Hammer

Trivia

 * The Badniks are based on the enemies of the same name from the Sonic the Hedgehog video games.