"Badniks"

[Solid SOAP]

Since when? I thought they had swords and maces and stuff. I could be wrong though, and probably am.

[Blue Blood]

Chainsaw Arms? What game have you been playing? None of them have this. They hold swords that look like chainsaws. Those ones are fairly lame methinks, I much prefer the Egg Fighters that send their hands to attack you! They're bloody awesome!

As far as I'm concerned, Badniks = Eggman's less humany and more varied bots. For example, I don't class Pawns as Badniks, but the Turtle thingy and the octopus things from Heroes I do think as Badniks. In 06, there's the Crabs and Rhinos that are badniky (perhaps a tad realistic to be them though) whereas all the other generic junk just sucks balls. Everything in SA is a Badnik.

[Badnik Zero]

I think they were holding some kind of studded weapon like these Aztec swords, or something like that.

Never-seen inhabitants of an island that's been under the sea for God-knows how long?

Oh and Frozen, I meant the Badniks were still on the island, not the people who lived there. But I could be wrong on that one.

Edited May 17, 2009 by Badnikz

[Stephen]

quote "look at all those eggman robots"

[BlitzChris]

Robot-esque robots (bar the egg-robo from S3K) dont count as badniks IMO. It has to be "animal-like", have an animal inside, or have a unique attack patternt. Also, they CANT APPEAR IN MORE THAN ONE STAGE.

If theres one thing that ticks me off more than anything, is seeing a repaint of an enermy in another stage. I dont mind those flying spheres with the 4 circling spikes from twighlight zone, which get repeated with ice type (Ice Cap I think..) and fire type (not sure where, memory illudes me), but come on... Dont want to be seeing a "desert" robot, followed by a "jungle camo" skinned robot.

Erg. Bring Badniks back.

[Indigo Rush]

Robot-esque robots (bar the egg-robo from S3K) dont count as badniks IMO. It has to be "animal-like", have an animal inside, or have a unique attack patternt. Also, they CANT APPEAR IN MORE THAN ONE STAGE.

You make buzzbomber, burrowbot and caterkiller sad. :C

[Blue Blood]

Exactly what I was thinking- a huge number of the badniks in older games would reappear in different stages. And what of Sonic Adventure? Were the Kikis, Leons, Caterpillar things, remade Orbinauts and others not Badniks because they were recycled? That has always annoyed me, the lack of many stage exclusive enemies in SA, but they're clearly badniks.

[Badnik Zero]

If theres one thing that ticks me off more than anything, is seeing a repaint of an enermy in another stage. I dont mind those flying spheres with the 4 circling spikes from twighlight zone, which get repeated with ice type (Ice Cap I think..) and fire type (not sure where, memory illudes me), but come on... Dont want to be seeing a "desert" robot, followed by a "jungle camo" skinned robot.

Yeah, that bugs me too. It's like in an RPG when you have some enemy in the early areas, and then they reuse him towards the end of the game, except he's purple now or something which makes him elite. Those 2.0 version enemies aren't cool, unless there's a real design difference between them. I'd say that applies to all video games in general, not just Sonic. It's lazy to recycle enemies.

What I do like is recurring Badnik themes from game to game, because they're those familiar things to let you know you're in Sonic's world. There have been at least five different types of Caterkiller throughout all the games. There was one in Sonic CD, one from each half of S3&K, the long segmented mecha one in SA1, and of course the original. They all had unique designs.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Badnikz

[Vertekins]

As much as I like the term 'Badnik', I admit that I have an odd fondness for each robot's japanese name. Some of them are onomatopoeias. For instance, the butterfly robots in Sonic CD's Palmtree Panic are called Bata Bata, the word means something akin to the sound a butterfly's wings make when fluttering in japanese I think. The Grasshopper robot in Wacky Workbench are called BataPyon, which is the japanese words for grasshopper and hopping together. The japanese names for the early robots of Eggman's suggest that Eggman quite creatively names his creations and it seemed to endure even to fairly recently with the names of the E-100 series.

That said, I still love the name Badniks for Eggman's robotic cronies. It fits indescribably well.

[sock fox]

I've never liked the term "Badnik". It always just seemed like another of America's heavy-handed early attempts to push everything into black-and-white good and evil categories. These are the bad guys, so they must have "bad" in their name so the kiddies can tell they are bad. It seemed as corny when I was five as it does now. XD

Eggbots would've been cooler. Or Eggniks. But if it wasn't Badniks, SoA probably would've gone for "Darknasties" or "Meanbads".

[Kiljoy]

I've never liked the term "Badnik". It always just seemed like another of America's heavy-handed early attempts to push everything into black-and-white good and evil categories. These are the bad guys, so they must have "bad" in their name so the kiddies can tell they are bad. It seemed as corny when I was five as it does now. XD

Eggbots would've been cooler. Or Eggniks. But if it wasn't Badniks, SoA probably would've gone for "Darknasties" or "Meanbads".

They were the bad guys. Robotnick is the bad guy, therefore Sonic would refer to his robots as Badnicks.

[sock fox]

They were the bad guys. Robotnick is the bad guy, therefore Sonic would refer to his robots as Badnicks.

So... why does Robotnik call them Badniks, then?

[Dr. Mechano]

So... why does Robotnik call them Badniks, then?

To be intimidating of course.

[sock fox]

Ehh, I don't like the idea. The bad guy naming his henchmen using the word "bad" just reeks of bad TV shows aimed at 3-6 year olds. Y'know, the kind of villain who magnifies the sun's rays to melt all the ice cream so the local kids can't get any during a hot summer. "Oooh hoo hoo, I'm so rotten!"

[Dr. Mechano]

Ehh, I don't like the idea. The bad guy naming his henchmen using the word "bad" just reeks of bad TV shows aimed at 3-6 year olds. Y'know, the kind of villain who magnifies the sun's rays to melt all the ice cream so the local kids can't get any during a hot summer. "Oooh hoo hoo, I'm so rotten!"

Well, "bad" can also mean "tough" or "cool." Such as when one is a bad enough dude to rescue the president.

Eggman's robots are, indeed, tough and cool.

[SuperStingray]

Well, "bad" can also mean "tough" or "cool." Such as when one is a bad enough dude to rescue the president.

Eggman's robots are, indeed, tough and cool.

I'm not sure if Eggman is the kind to use "bad" in the Micheal Jackson context, but then again, he IS young at heart.

Anyway, I used to always think that the term "Badnik" only applied to the Eggman-esque enemy that Knuckles fought instead of him in S3&K and the others in Sky Sanctuary, but I was proven wrong when I heard it in used with other enemies. I'd certainly like the term to be used again; it's a lot less awkward and more fun to say "Look at all those Badniks!"

[sock fox]

I don't see Eggman using 80's buzzwords, though. But the thought of it made me picture him dancing to Michael Jackson. Which I would now like to see.

Edit: Ah. Beaten to it by a ham sandwich.

Edited May 22, 2009 by sock fox

[SuperStingray]

I don't see Eggman using 80's buzzwords, though. But the thought of it made me picture him dancing to Michael Jackson. Which I would now like to see.

Lucky you, I just happen to have that in my art topic.

[Blazey Firekitty]

I don't see Eggman using 80's buzzwords, though.

Well, technically people still use "badass" to talk about someone who is tough or cool. Not quite the same thing, but it's close.

[Frozen Nitrogen]

Ehh, I don't like the idea. The bad guy naming his henchmen using the word "bad" just reeks of bad TV shows aimed at 3-6 year olds. Y'know, the kind of villain who magnifies the sun's rays to melt all the ice cream so the local kids can't get any during a hot summer. "Oooh hoo hoo, I'm so rotten!"

If anything, I like it because of its now somewhat anachronistic, kitschy connotations. Having something called a "badnik" as a walking-steel-crypt-crossed-with-a-fate-worse-than-death for a cute woodland animal, PLUS the fact that it is probably right now firing bolts of searing plasma that will fry the flesh from your bones, serves as a gentle reminder that Eggman is, in addition to being a certifyable genius, actually certifyably mad.

Which if anything makes the robots more disturbing than if they were all called SGR-X004.

But maybe my like of the name is just my Fleetway nostalgia-tinted spectacles talking.

[Blazey Firekitty]

Having something called a "badnik" as a walking-steel-crypt-crossed-with-a-fate-worse-than-death for a cute woodland animal, PLUS the fact that it is probably right now firing bolts of searing plasma that will fry the flesh from your bones, serves as a gentle reminder that Eggman is, in addition to being a certifyable genius, actually certifyably mad.

I guess the entire concept is both unsettling and hilarious at the same time.^_~

"Ohoho, I shall build my robot army, and I shall build it upon the cleanest, most energy efficient method ever...hamsters running on little wheels!"

[sock fox]

If anything, I like it because of its now somewhat anachronistic, kitschy connotations. Having something called a "badnik" as a walking-steel-crypt-crossed-with-a-fate-worse-than-death for a cute woodland animal, PLUS the fact that it is probably right now firing bolts of searing plasma that will fry the flesh from your bones, serves as a gentle reminder that Eggman is, in addition to being a certifyable genius, actually certifyably mad.

I think most of the robots have better individual names that already do that. Caterkiller, Ball Hog, Pointdexter... those names are silly and dangerous without being so heavy-handed as having "bad" in there.