Egg Pawn/Pre-SGW

Egg Pawns were robots created by Dr. Eggman to replace the decommissioned SWATbot and Shadowbot models. Created in 3236 during Sonic the Hedgehog's time in outer space, the Egg Pawns were employed in numerous operations, including the invasion of Angel Island, the takeover of Golden Hive Colony and the destruction of Knothole. When New Megaopolis was destroyed by Enerjak, the Egg Pawns were all but destroyed, with the Dark Egg Legion replacing them as the Eggman Empire's main ground troops. However, they seem to have made a return in the new universe.

Attack on Angel Island
When the Eggman Empire began its invasion of Angel Island, the Egg Pawns participated in the attack. An army of Egg Pawns was dispatched to dispose of the Brotherhood of Guardians and captured the Master Emerald. The Brotherhood of Guardians prevailed however, destroying the attacking Egg Pawns. Although they failed to obtain the Master Emerald, the Brotherhood soon went missing and the Egg Pawns continued to act as Eggman's enforcers on Angel Island along with a legion of updated SWATbots and the Dingo Regime. (StH: #139)

Stationed at Golden Hive Colony
After Sonic's return from space, Charmy Bee and his fiancée Saffron made their way to Knothole to inform the Kingdom of Acorn that their home, the Golden Hive Colony, had been destroyed by the Eggman Empire, its citizens rounded up and sent to the Egg Grape Chambers. However, Eggman then had the Egg Pawns rebuild the colony into a heavy industrialized and polluting factory. Some time later, Espio the Chameleon infiltrated the factory to discover what had become of the colony's former bee inhabitants. No records could be found however, and Espio, with help from NICOLE, sabotaged the main computer and caused Golden Hive Colony along with its contingent of Egg Pawns to be destroyed. (StH: #169)

Destruction of Knothole
When the production of the Egg Fleet was complete, the Egg Pawns acted as the crew of the aerial vessels. Shortly after their attack on Knothole, the Egg Fleet was attacked by Snively's step-sister Hope Kintobor in her personal air plane. At that point, an Egg Pawn had the Egg Fleet target and lock on to her ship, and asked for permission to open fire. Snively hesitated to give the order, and Hope survived the encounter to return to the United Federation and join G.U.N. (StH: #175, #177)

Enerjak's Rampage
Not long after Knothole's destruction, Knuckles the Echidna had gone back to Angel Island to help his father as Guardian. However, he was soon captured by the Destructix and convinced to become Enerjak by Dr. Finitevus. During his brief time as Enerjak, Knuckles was captured by the Egg Fleet, but managed to escape the custom Egg Grape Chamber. Upon emerging, he destroyed the entire city of New Megaopolis and all of its Egg Pawns. Following these events, Eggman made an alliance with the desperate Lien-Da, using the few loyal Dark Legion members under her command to become the replacement ground forces for the destroyed Egg Pawns. (StH: #181, #182, #183, #184)

Egg Hammer
The Egg Hammer was a variant of Dr. Eggman's Egg Pawn model, so called because it wielded a gigantic hammer as a weapon. Egg Hammers were also considerably larger than typical Egg Pawns, and were mostly covered in gray armor. One Egg Hammer succeeded in subduing Jet the Hawk of the Babylon Rogues, striking him and bringing about his capture. However, most of the Egg Hammers were presumably destroyed along with their Egg Pawn brethren when the fourth Enerjak all but leveled New Megaopolis. (StH: #163, #183)

Egg Flapper
The Egg Flapper is the aerial variant of the Egg Pawn. They often feature electrically charged attacks as well as mounted laser rifles.

Personality
Due to the lack of Overlander family or companions, Eggman decided to program his robots with personalities, including emotions such as fear and joy. Espio was surprised to find that an Egg Pawn willingly told him where the main computer of Golden Hive Colony was located out of fear for it's "life". NICOLE speculated Eggman wanted his servants to fulfill his need for companionship, likely in the same manner Dr. Ivo Robotnik had with the early Badnik models. (StH: #169)

Background Information

 * Egg Pawns were originally a basic enemy in Sonic Heroes, along with other Sonic games, and were brought into the comic book as a nod to the Sonic game franchise.