E-102 Gamma/Pre-SGW

"You cannot destroy my soul."

- Gamma's affirmation of identity.

E-102 "Gamma" was the third robot of the E-100 Series line created by Dr. Eggman. Although Gamma was created by and made to work under Dr. Eggman, he ended up abandoning his programming in search of something more, due in part to an encounter with Amy Rose and her Flicky friend. After spending over a year fighting Dr. Eggman's forces, Gamma met his end at the hands of fellow robot E-123 Omega. However, he was able to upload his free will into the other robot, thus leaving Omega to carry on his fight.

Creation and Early Assignments
Upon awakening for the first time, Gamma began exploring the base he was in, observing two robotic duplicates of Sonic the Hedgehog. Soon afterwards, Dr. Eggman arrived and wanted to examine Gamma's weapon skills, sending him into a training area where he was to destroy dummies of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Due to his resounding success, Dr. Eggman took an early liking to Gamma, and E-102 was later seen assisting in the attack on the Floating Island. (StH: #79, #82)



Following this, Gamma was sent to collect a group of emerald shards to help empower the water beast Chaos. Upon his return from completing this task, Gamma was put into competition with his sibling E-100 robots, which were ordered to retrieve a frog who had absorbed Chaos' tail. Gamma proceeded to locate Froggy at Big the Cat's hut, knocking Big over and capturing Froggy. When he returned, Eggman was delighted to see Gamma's success, while the other E-100's had all failed and brought back regular frogs. With Gamma as the victor, Eggman disposed of the other E-100's and assigned Gamma to his next mission. (StH: #80, #81, #82)

Encounter with Amy Rose
Gamma's next assignment was to retrieve the Flicky sitting in a prison cell along with Amy Rose on board the Egg Carrier. Although Gamma demanded she hand over the bird, Amy refused. The tone of Amy's voice by contrast to Dr. Eggman's harsh orders enacted Gamma to remember the fate of his brethren and recall the recommissioning that befell them. This caused Gamma to have a revelation, thus he freed Amy and the Flicky. Gamma's newly awakened "soul" was owed to its power source: a female Flicky that was the parent to the Flicky accompanying Amy. (StH: #82, CSE)

Gamma had little time to deduce what he'd done before he was called up to the deck to dispose of the trespassing Sonic and Tails. A grueling battle ensued, but Gamma was ultimately defeated by Sonic. Before he could be destroyed however, Amy got between the two and informed Sonic that Gamma had helped her escape. Hearing this, Sonic left the robot alone, and Sonic, Amy and Tails all fled the descending Egg Carrier. (SSS: #13)

Lone Soldier Against the Eggman Empire
Gamma proceeded to destroy all of the other E-100s at any of Eggman's outposts, including E-101 Beta who had been upgraded. Once he had defeated his original five brethren, he traveled first to West Robotropolis to dispatch Eta, and then to Robotropolis in pursuit of Theta, who managed to elude it but was presumed to have fallen to the city's radioactivity. A trip to the Northern Tundra saw the end of Iota, while Kappa fell at Snottingham and Lambda was destroyed in Efrika. Mu and Nu ambushed Gamma in Mazuri, and Xi likewise attempted to destroy Gamma on the border of Yurashia and Efrika. Omicron also ambushed Gamma but was defeated, as was Pi when Gamma faced it in the Great Crater of Downunda. Rho was next to fail in its efforts to ambush the renegade E-102, while a ploy by Sigma failed to divert Gamma from his mission.

Gamma found Tau in the Dragon Kingdom, and after destroying it boldly boarded the Battle Fortress to attack Upsilon as it met with Battlekukku XV. A memory error resulted in some confusion over Phi and Chi, but the pair were apparently destroyed as well. With that, the only other active E-100 robot left was Psi, who surprised Gamma by surrendering itself to destruction in Mercia. Having destroyed all but one of the other E-100 Series robots, Gamma continued to travel the world fighting the Eggman Empire and occasionally helping others in secret, such as saving Walt Wallabee of the Downunda Freedom Fighters from a Wing Dingo by blasting it from the shadows. (ASUB, SU: #3)

Attempted Recruitment by G.U.N. and Destruction
As time went on, Gamma began to wear down after going solo for so long. Commander Abraham Tower of G.U.N. wished to change that by employing Gamma into G.U.N. and restoring him to his former glory, so he sent agent Shadow the Hedgehog to find Gamma and offer him asylum. But Dr. Eggman also wanted the rogue Gamma found and sent the last of the E-100 Series, E-123 Omega, to destroy Gamma so he couldn't interfere in his showdown with Sonic. Shadow managed to locate Gamma in the mountains after Gamma attempted to ambush him, but soon realized Shadow was also an enemy of Eggman, and therefore a friend. Gamma agreed to work for G.U.N. and the two were to return to G.U.N. HQ via helicopter, but Gamma picked up the signal of a hostile presence and Omega suddenly crashed through the trees towards the duo. Omega quickly subdued Shadow, but Gamma fired at him, making Omega realize that his primary target was present and that he must destroy him. Shadow then told Gamma to run while he distracted Omega.

Shadow managed to briefly act as a diversion, but Omega simply captured him in his arm cannon and fired him over the treeline and returned to chasing Gamma. While retreating, Gamma wiped away his tracks with a branch so Omega couldn't find him, then waited for Omega to show up to ambush him. During this, the two exchanged comments about their mutual strengths and weaknesses through radio signals, and just as Omega walked into his trap, Gamma added "You are a walking arsenal. I am an assassin" while knocking Omega down with three precise shots. Moving to stand beside Omega, Gamma explained that Omega was also right - he was outdated, and the fight against Eggman needed something better than him. Omega accepted this as surrender and planned to give Gamma a "glorious destruction" in some sense of admiration. Gamma replied that he couldn't be completely destroyed, as his soul would remain. Omega mocked this, saying that as robots, they don't have souls. Gamma replied that they can and that he would show him. As Omega prepared to destroy him, Gamma uploaded his free will and programming into Omega and was then eradicated. (SU: #3)

Legacy
The programming uploaded into Omega allowed for Gamma's "soul" and free will to be passed on to the giant robot. With Shadow's encouragement, Omega accepted his offer to join G.U.N. and follow in his "brother's" footsteps by fighting the Eggman Empire and built a grave marker out of rocks for Gamma. Additionally, the Flicky that had served as Gamma's power source and that had helped awaken Gamma's free will was released by Gamma's destruction. (SU: #3, CSE)

Personality
Like most of Eggman's robots, Gamma had a free will and personality, though unlike over-ambitious models such as the original Metal Sonic, Gamma's leave of duty was usually out of a compassion or remorse for his actions against Sonic and his friends. Gamma was renowned for gaining his sentience and more or less being the first to portray the thoughts of an average Eggman robot. Even under evil alignment, however, he held a sensible and rational manner towards his enemies. However he became somewhat uncomfortable to vivid human emotions, to the point that the emotional conflict of his loyalty pained him, leading to his eventual leave of duty. Gamma was shown to be very rational, yet still showed a deep sense of dedication to the fight against Eggman. He was also very clever and cunning judging by how he quickly assessed a situation and made a trap to defeat an enemy in no time at all while covering his tracks.

Abilities
As one of Eggman's destructive gunner robots, E-102 was built for battle. His two main weapon are a blaster on his right arm that could lock-on with help from a targeting device, and a second laser positioned on the right side of his head. Due to the targeting device, Gamma's shots were almost always accurate, and allowed for pinpoint accuracy to find an enemy's weak spot. The blaster's effectiveness was that it could fire three shots at the same time.

Gamma was also equipped with a jet booster that allowed him to hover for some time and cross longer distances in the air. Gamma was also good at tactics in assassination, having the ability to take down an opponent without them even noticing that they were being targeted. He was also skilled at making traps by using only elements from his surroundings, such as false foot steps in the snow while he lied in wait for someone to spot them and then ambush them.

Background information

 * The Alpha series mechanoid known as Isaac appears to be a gold-colored (later silver-colored) re-color of Gamma, right down to the 102 on the side. Despite the color difference, Tails thought that maybe "Dr. Eggman rebuilt him." Regardless, there is no known relation between the two units, as Issac is believed to be at least 10,000 years older, possibly making Isaac a design inspiration for Gamma and the E-100 Series. The only other difference is that Gamma has a grav-linked jet disc situated on the aft of his body and can use it to fly while Issac has nothing there.
 * The original design for Dr. Ivo Kintobor's Omega Care Unit resembled Gamma, but it was changed to E-123 Omega's design over the years as "it seemed to lend itself better to housing a mobian, and it seemed much more apt for her  [ Buns's ]  character." according to Ian Flynn.
 * In StH: #82, Gamma was stated to be the second of the E-100 Series, but if the E-100 Series went in the order of E-100 Alpha, E-101 Beta, E-102 Gamma, Gamma would be the third. It should be noted, however, that Robotnik made the same claim in Sonic Adventure, perhaps indicating that ZERO is not considered a true E-100 Series robot.
 * In the original game, a pink-colored Flicky bird was trapped inside Gamma, however the one seen in his Sonic Universe appearance was colored brown. Apparently writer Ian Flynn had left a note in the script for Gamma's flicky to appear pink, but the colorist missed the note.
 * Gamma's self-appointed mission to eliminate all E-100 robots is similar to Omega's from the video games.
 * A robot looking very similar to Gamma appeared in SU #2 within a flashback. This robot first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 and was called the E-1000, which was a sentinel robot with twin guns and poor aim.