- For other uses, see Egg Carrier (disambiguation).
The Egg Carrier (エッグキャリア Eggu Kyaria?) is a vessel that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a large multifunctional flying fortress created by Dr. Eggman which initially served as the doctor's base of operations during an attempt to conquer the world. The Egg Carrier has been crewed by Eggman and various robots, including the first E-100 Series robots. The original Egg Carrier fell into the ocean after a mighty battle, but other iterations have been made over time to take its place.
Description
Appearance
The first Egg Carrier was a large and heavily armored aircraft with a red, yellow, black and white colored hull, an open deck, and the Eggman Empire's decal emblazoned on it. Each side was covered by a large plate of armor which could be folded out into wings, and on the front was a pointy bow which could fold out into a cannon. On the rear was two massive engines.
The second Egg Carrier retained much of the former's coloration and shape, and had a more high-tech design, but was smaller and sleeker. It features a longer bow with what appeared to be some kind of cannon mounted on its underside, and it had several engines mounted on the back of it.[1] The third known iteration of the Egg Carrier deviated much from the standard design, resembling more the Final Fortress.[2]
Features and abilities
The original Egg Carrier's battle mode.
The original iteration of the Egg Carrier was an all-purpose aerial fortress with numerous commodities befitting an evil genius. It was capable of flight and hovering, and was equipped with a plethora of weaponry. This included a large front-mounted laser cannon, laser turrets, air mines, and missile launchers. It had as well hangars for quick deployment of aerial robot drones to defend the vessel. This Egg Carrier could also transform into two shapes; a cruise form and an high-movement battle form. While being somewhat streamlined in its pre-transformed mode, its post-transformed mode made it much harder to get from the landing area to the bridge.[3]
Later iterations of the Egg Carrier have demonstrated identical flight capabilities, but not the same degree of offensive capabilities as the original; that said, they still showcase a number of armaments (like the plasma cannons seen during Sonic's battle with the Egg-Wyvern) and storage compartments for robot troops.[2][4]
History
Sonic Adventure
The Egg Carrier in Sonic Adventure.
The Egg Carrier first appears as Eggman's large airship, and plays an important role in Sonic Adventure. It was colored black, red and yellow, and was more heavily armed than the previous ships. It had missile launchers, air mines, lock-on energy cannons and a large hidden laser cannon hidden in the beak-like bulb in the front. The Egg Carrier could transform into two shapes; offensive and defensive. While being somewhat streamlined in its offensive shape (pictured), the defensive shape folded the wings out to the sides and makes it much harder to get from the landing area to the bridge. The Egg Carrier was crewed by Eggman and various robots, including the first E-100 robots, notably E-102 Gamma.
Eggman first used the Egg Carrier to find and destroy the Master Emerald at Angel Island in order to free Chaos. After succeeding, the Egg Carrier landed in his Final Egg base in Mystic Ruins for later usage. This usage came when Eggman brought the Egg Carrier to the place where Sonic, Tails and Knuckles battled Chaos, and then picked up Eggman and Chaos with a tractor beam of sorts. Sonic and Tails followed it with the Tornado, but the plane was shot down. The Egg Carrier then flew over Station Square, scaring the inhabitants. It then flew back to Final Egg, where it was infiltrated by Knuckles and Big the Cat, as pieces of the Master Emerald and Big's friend, Froggy, were located on it. It then took off again and picked up a robot that had kidnapped Amy Rose, and was subsequently chased through a storm by Sonic and Tails in their new Tornado 2. This time the heroes managed to land on the Egg Carrier, where Eggman challenged them to get through the ship.
The Egg Carrier starts to fall from the sky.
Meanwhile, Knuckles and Big found what they were looking for, and Amy managed to escape from her cell. On the deck, Sonic and Tails defeated E-102, when suddenly the ship started losing altitude (it is not explained why, but Sonic, Tails and Knuckles had caused some destruction in their respective stages), so Tails, Amy and E-102 fled the ship. Sonic stayed to find Eggman, which he did, along with Chaos. Sonic, Knuckles and Big all fought and defeated Chaos, and everyone fled the ship as it crashed into the ocean below and started floating on the surface. E-102 later came back to the floating vessel in order to defeat his brothers, E-105 Zeta and E-101 Beta, which he did. Finally, Amy also came back to look for the relatives of her bird friend. She battled ZERO and discovered that E-102 and E-101 had held the two birds. It can be assumed that Eggman salvaged the Egg Carrier for parts, as it is revealed in Sonic Battle that he had reused the parts of E-102, whose "corpse" was located on the Egg Carrier.
After Chaos obtains all seven Chaos Emeralds, becomes Perfect Chaos and destroys Station Square, Eggman reveals the Egg Carrier 2, which was a fail-safe to use against Chaos in case he rebelled. However, the Egg Carrier 2 is proved to be nothing compared to the power of Chaos, who shoots it down with a large energy beam.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
The Egg Carrier floating above Soleanna.
The Egg Carrier appears as Eggman's battlecraft in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) as it introduced a new Egg Carrier model. It looks mostly like the old one, but is in fact smaller, sleeker, more streamlined in appearance, and less clunky in design. It is only called the "Egg Carrier" in text-boxes; in all audible dialogue, it is oddly referred to as "Eggman's battleship".
Eggman uses the Egg Carrier to attack the city of Soleanna and kidnap Princess Elise. Sonic chases it in the Wave Ocean stage in order to save her. It is later destroyed due to malfunctioning engines, killing Elise and possibly Eggman. However, Sonic uses Chaos Control to go back in time to save Elise, and as such, Eggman also manages to escape with his life. When Sonic saves Elise, he fights Eggman in the Egg-Wyvern underneath the Egg Carrier.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
The Egg Carrier in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
In the prologue of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Eggman has built another Egg Carrier but is defeated by a combined effort of Sonic, Tails and G.U.N. Tails shuts down the Carrier when he pulls out some cables in the control room and it crashes into Metropolis.
Other game appearances
Sonic Heroes
Although the Egg Carrier didn't appear in Sonic Heroes, it was briefly mentioned by Amy Rose in the stage Final Fortress when played as Team Rose and by Knuckles in that same stage when played by Team Sonic.
In other media
Archie Comics
The Egg Carrier in the Archie Comics.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Egg Carrier was important transport for Dr. Eggman during an attempt to conquer Station Square. The original Egg Carrier fell into the ocean after a mighty battle. Shortly after, a second Egg Carrier was made to stop the rampage of Perfect Chaos, but the creature destroyed it. After the Super Genesis Wave occurred, the Egg Carrier became identical to its game counterpart.
Sonic X
The Egg Carrier in Sonic X.
In the Sonic X anime, the Egg Carrier appeared during the Chaos Saga, where it played the same role as it did in Sonic Adventure. In the Sonic X comic series, additional Egg Carriers are used by Dr. Eggman and his crew.
Trivia
- In Sonic Adventure, the Egg Carrier can be seen changing its appearance (rendering state) during certain missions. For example, during the battle between Amy and ZERO, the window bars on the bridge disappear and the yellow topped radar looks grey with red outlining. This may have something to do with the original Egg Carrier look before drastic changes.
- In the cutscene depicting the Egg Carrier's freefall, it is visibly damaged, with entire portions of the ship missing. During Knuckles' battle with Chaos 6, the center turbine portion where the battle takes place is damaged as well, something not visible in Big or Sonic's battles. However when the Egg Carrier is revisited while floating in the ocean, there are no signs of damage whatsoever.
- During the Egg-Wyvern battle in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), the Egg Carrier drops charges from the hold. It is not known if the Egg Carrier was lightening its load to stop falling or if that was a developer's method of making the battle more interesting.
- When the player finishes Red Mountain, the Egg Carrier seems to change color.
- If the player pauses the game when the Egg Carrier is transforming in Sonic Adventure, the Egg Carrier will disappear.
- When the sequence occurs when the Egg Carrier changes forms, if the player is Tails and attempts to fly, the sound he makes when he flies can still be heard.
- In the Sonic Underground episode "Come Out Wherever You Are," a ship called the Predator closely resembles the Egg Carrier.
- The early design for the Egg Carrier seen in Sonic Adventure's concept art appears in the X-Zone table in Sonic Pinball Party.
References
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 BioWare (September 26, 2008). Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Nintendo DS. Sega. Area/level: Opening sequence.
- ↑ Sonic Team (October 19, 1999). Sonic Adventure. Dreamcast. Sega. Area/Level: Egg Carrier (Sonic's version). "Eggman: You haven't see the power this vessel really has! Get a load of this! / Tails: Ahhh, wow! It's changed shape. Did you see that? / Sonic: Darn! This makes it even harder for us to get to the bridge!"
- ↑ Sonic Team, Blindlight (24 November 2006). Sonic the Hedgehog. Xbox 360. Sega. Area/Level: Opening sequence.
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