E-123 Omega


 * Omega redirects here. You may be looking for the Omega Care Unit. Or you could be searching for E-102 Gamma.

E-123 "Omega" is a battle robot created by Dr. Eggman in 3236 and is the only known remaining unit of the E-100 Series line. After being kept in storage for over a year, Omega was finally released in 3237 with a mission to destroy the rogue E-102 Gamma. Although successful in his mission, Gamma managed to reprogram Omega to grant him a soul before being destroyed. Following this and a conversation with Shadow the Hedgehog, Omega decided to follow in his "brother's" footsteps and fight the Eggman Empire as an agent of the United Federation's defence forces, the Guardian Units of the Nation, where he later became a member of Team Dark.

Year In Storage
Omega was built in 3236 as part of the E-100 Series line of robots, specifically made for combat against Eggman's greatest enemy, Sonic the Hedgehog, with the side-mission of covering Mobius in "glorious fire and doom". But Omega wasn't activated until a year after his creation and had been left to gather dust for all that time, eventually coming to rest in the Eggdome's storage facility. (SU: #3)

Destroying Gamma & Gaining A Soul
E-123 Omega was finally activated in 3237 just prior to the invasion of the Eggdome. Dr. Eggman ordered Omega to hunt down and destroy the rogue robot E-102 Gamma. At first, Omega refused his assignment as he was built to destroy Sonic the Hedgehog, but Eggman informed Omega that he alone would kill Sonic and threatened to put him back in storage for a decade if Omega did not follow his orders. The automaton then flew off of the Eggdome and went to begin his mission. After locating E-102 Gamma in the remote mountains hours later, Omega was forced to battle the rogue robot as well as G.U.N. agent Shadow the Hedgehog. Delighted to fight an opponent stronger than Sonic, Omega focused on Shadow until Gamma fired at him, reminding Omega of his primary objective. Intent on completing his mission, Omega temporarily disposed of Shadow by using his arm cannon to capture and blast him away over the tree-tops. Omega then chased after Gamma, and after a lengthy verbal exchange Gamma managed to temporarily subdue Omega by blasting him off his feet. However, Gamma explained he was outdated, which Omega took as a sign of surrender. Gamma told Omega his soul would remain even if he was destroyed, but Omega paid no heed to it, saying robots did not have souls. Gamma then uploaded some of his programming into Omega before his robotic body was destroyed by Omega's barrage. After the smoke had cleared, Omega became overwhelmed by his new programming and free will and thought he'd been infected with a virus just as Shadow arrived. "Gamma" then spoke through Omega, informing them that he had uploaded his coding into E-123 and given him a soul. The coding integrated into Omega and he and Gamma became one. With a new respect for life, Omega was convinced by Shadow to fight against the Eggman Empire like Gamma had as a G.U.N. agent. After Omega created a grave marker made out of rocks for Gamma, he and Shadow were picked up by a G.U.N. helicopter and brought back to G.U.N. HQ. Upon arriving at the base, Omega met with Chief Commander Abraham Tower and underwent an examination by Hope Kintobor. (StH: #200, SU: #3)

Member of Team Dark
After Shadow and Rouge failed to obtain a Chaos Emerald from Feist in the Special Zone, Shadow engaged in some violent training in G.U.N. HQ's gym with Omega, who noticed Shadow was "agitated". Omega said that Shadow should not let his failure concern him, as Omega had been cleared for active duty and would accompany Shadow and Rouge on their next attempt to obtain an emerald in the Special Zone, saying they would have an advantage with him because he intended to "blast" Feist. This statement angered Shadow and he pushed Omega to the floor. Omega was then left wondering if it was something he had said as he watched Shadow leave the gym. A while later, Omega accompanied Shadow and Rouge on their second attempt to achieve a Chaos Emerald, this time as a member of the newly formed Team Dark. Omega and the rest of Team Dark were then given a new challenge by Feist on their arrival. Their task was to retrieve a Chaos Emerald from the centre of a cube-shaped maze to win it. With Shadow's help, they quickly found the emerald above a floor of spikes, but Feist encased it within a box made of multi-coloured gems they failed to penetrate it and snag the emerald in time. Feist then teleported Team Dark and the emerald out of the maze and began to mock them in the palm of his hand. The trio then initiated "Plan B," much to Omega's pleasure. Omega attacked Feist with his weapons full in the face as a distraction while Rouge and Shadow stole the emerald from the Special Zone's master. Feist became enraged by this, but Team Dark escaped thanks to Shadow's use of Chaos Control. Omega and the two Mobians then returned to G.U.N. HQ, and Rouge complimented Omega on his work, who replied it was "only a small megaton of ordinance." (SU: #4)

Abilities
Omega is described as a "walking arsenal" due to being equipped with a considerable amount of weaponry, which is mainly concealed in his arms (somewhat similar to that of Grounder) and the rest of his upper body. His known armoury consists of Miniguns, laser blasters, missile launchers and cannons, giving him "more firepower than all of the old Badnik horde combined," according to Snively. Although Omega is primarily built for weapons' usage, he also seems to have been programmed with a limited knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, as he could deflect some of Shadow's attacks during a sparring match while attempting to get in some of his own, only for Shadow to push him to the floor once he became aggravated. (SU: #3, #4)

Omega has also displayed considerable physical strength, making him capable of destroying thick trees by smashing them with his metal fists or breaking G.U.N.'s training equipment. He was equipped with heavy and remarkably strong armour that can withstand laser blasts from elite fighter robots such as Gamma, powerful blows from opponents such as Shadow, and possibly Chaos Spear attacks. Omega can also utilize a jet booster built into his back to hover and fly long distances, but the booster is rather loud and tends to give away his position. (SU: #3, #4)

Omega can use radio waves to talk with other Eggman robots and has sensors that allow him to detect energy signatures in various objects, areas, and beings along with changes in the air such as when smoke is present. Some of his weapons seem to be specifically made for combat with Sonic, such as his arm cannon that was able to capture and launch Shadow when he performed a spin-dash, one of Sonic's signature moves. Omega also seems to be made to go across different terrains as well since he was able to get around the snow laden mountains with ease and could smash trees with his bare hands, which are natural obstacles that could get in his way all over Mobius. He also has great speed and can jump fairly long distances others would have to fly over. All his abilities make him a capable opponent against many enemies. (SU: #3, #4)

Personality
Like many of Eggman's other robots, Omega was programmed with a limited personality, but thanks to Gamma's upload, it expanded considerably and gave him free will. Before then, he was just an obedient robot who feared his creator with a keen sense of sarcasm at his disposal. (SU: #3, #4)

Omega is somewhat arrogant and prideful, making him think his enemies are inferior to him and are nothing but playthings to be fought with, no matter how powerful those beings are, and will jump at any chance to prove his capabilities. Currently, Omega's only goals in life are to take revenge on Eggman for keeping him shut down for a year and to carry on Gamma's mission, which are close to the same thing. His pride of being a destructive war machine is a major part of him, and even threatened to turn Shadow into "linked sausage" if he told anybody at G.U.N. he showed himself to be weaker than usual by building a grave marker and "whining" about not knowing his purpose in life. Although his pride will make him do anything to prove how powerful he is, Omega will not let it get in the way of his current mission objective and won't stop until it is complete. (SU: #3, #4)

Despite the fact that Omega has received the more peaceful Gamma's programming and now finds destroying life an experience that makes him feel "uneasy," Omega still likes to use destructive methods, battle with powerful opponents (even if they're his allies), and purge things with "fire" in most situations. (SU: #3, #4)

Background Information

 * Former writer Karl Bollers planned to introduce Omega in a story after StH #134, but the idea was scrapped like many other concepts at the time. (1)
 * Current writer Ian Flynn also planned on using Omega in the milestone StH #175, replacing Snively's role of attacking Freedom HQ where he would have killed a still-living Tommy Turtle before fighting Bunnie D'Coolette and finally Sonic. Afterwards, Omega would rise to become one of Eggman's top enforcers for a while before the events of SU #3 took place. (2) However, SEGA asked that Flynn not use him in the story. Archie finally managed to convince SEGA to let them use Omega in Sonic Universe to complete Team Dark. (3)
 * Omega's design was used for the Omega Care Unit in issues following StH #193 with minor changes. Although the early prototype designs for the care unit looked more like E-102 Gamma than Omega, the design was changed to be like Omega's over the years because "it seemed to lend itself better to housing a mobian, and it seemed much more apt for her character." (4)
 * On the covers of Sonic Universe #3 and #4, Omega is depicted with a metal plate between his eyes just like in the games, though this was not included in the actual issues. It seems that the plate was a last minute addition, as it was not seen on both promotional covers for those Sonic Universe issues.

Appearance
Omega's appearance was concepted by Takashi Iizuka and designed by Nobuhiko Honda. It appears to have been made with the intention of fitting in with the rest of the E-100 Series robots from Sonic Adventure (particularly Gamma) while making him stand out by giving him a stockier upper body and arms with different coloured eyes. His height is also lesser than the other models and his shoulders larger with a visible Greek symbol on the front of the left and back of the right with red handlebars on the top. They also decided to go without the twin exhaust pipes and grav-linked jet disc ("Jet Booster" in Sonic Adventure) of the first E-100 Series robots, instead settling for one circling pipe around the waist with two flaps attached and having twin jets installed in Omega's back below the hunch. The stripe running from his head to stomach has also been changed so that it is a seperate piece of metal altogether and not simply painted on like the others and he also has one extra finger and two hands with yellow wrists studded with large spikes like a dog collar. Just below his stripe is a plate of clear material that allows others to see some of his inner workings.

Tracy Yardley's design of Omega is mainly based on that of his appearance in Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog, but design elements from Omega's other game appearances were also been worked in, such as the sharper fingers on his hands from Sonic the Hedgehog. (1) Yardley's depiction shows Omega as much taller with bigger shoulders and the black stripe of metal jutting out unusally, and has given him the ability to show emotion by making the yellow metal encasing his eyes change shape like a person's forehead.



Steven Butler's depiction of Omega in the Off-Panel of SU #3 is similar to Yardley's, and appears to also be based off his Sonic Heroes design. But Butler changed his depiction of Omega in SU #4's Off-Panel to mirror that of his appearance in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, as evidenced by Omega having Omega symbols on both shoulders instead of just the one. Although, many artists (both those employed by SEGA and fans) have mistakenly given Omega two symbols instead of one in the past.