I have no intention of defending the designs. The changed Badnik designs are definitely a downgrade compared to Lost World, Generations, and the Classics. They are definitely boring and not very threatening, so I also used to really hate them in the past.

But... as time went by, I started to like them a little. The more I look at their simple designs, the more I find them somewhat cute. And whether it was successful or not, I want to highly appreciate the fact that they at least tried to attempt a completely different design.

What I want to say is, Moto Bug, Buzz Bomber, Crabmeat, Chopper, and Egg Pawn have essentially become mandatory appearances starting from Colors. Setting Egg Pawn aside, for Moto Bug and Buzz Bomber, ever since Sonic 1, they kept making new Badniks to replace them, and they used to only appear in spin-offs. But since Colors, they now appear unconditionally in every game. The Sonic series also needed recurring enemies like other game series, and they are fully qualified for that, so I have no complaints. However, on the flip side, because of that, the early stages all become similar (of course, this is also largely because they rehashed Green Hill or made similar stages), and because they are used so repetitively, I get the feeling that the unique characteristics of each area are somewhat diminished when a lot of similar enemies appear, since enemies also play a big role in defining a region's traits.

The reason why I think this is important is that, honestly, personally I think a region or a stage is considered more important in the Sonic series than in any other game series. Of course, other game series might be better in terms of story, but there is a reason why Generations, which recreates and remakes past stages, exists. Also, Sonic uniquely has a ton of stage ranking videos, and seeing how fans also create mods that recreate stages from various games, the stages in the Sonic series receive much more enthusiasm than those in other games.

  
The reason for this is, of course, thanks to Sonic's unique game mechanics, they are considered like rollercoaster rides, but the aesthetics and music of the region also have an impact. However, I think what completes that aesthetic are the enemies that appear there. That is why I like the Badniks and other Sonic enemies and consider them important as well.

So what I want to say is, while it is true that the Badniks in Forces have poor designs compared to before, I want to highly praise the fact that they at least attempted a completely different design. (Of course, it would have been better if they had created entirely new Badniks.)

When they appeared in Shadow Generations, I was honestly happy. Thanks to their designs, they clearly stood out from the other enemies in that stage, and I liked that they functioned properly as enemies. From then on, I didn't really want to hate them.

Besides, I think the giant robot designs are really cool. For the mass-produced Death Egg Robot, I simply liked the concept of a mass-produced version of the final boss mecha, and Sega must have really liked it too because there is hardly a game it doesn't appear in since then. Death Queen is literally a boss version of Buzz Bomber, and since giant versions of Buzz Bombers have appeared in the IDW comics, I think it would look really cool if Death Queen took on that role. And Death Crab is one of my favorite Badniks. It was refreshing that it was based on the appearance of a spider crab rather than just being a boss version of Crabmeat, and its overall appearance was the moment when the simple Badnik designs of Forces truly shined.

  
Yeah. I think that is all from me. Actually, the reason I wrote this post is that I once wrote a post saying it was a shame that the Forces Badniks did not appear in Mimic's flashback scene (I deleted it now), and several people wrote cursing comments saying that they are boring and it does not matter if they do not appear.

Besides that, when discussing other Badniks or enemies, it does not go well either. So I started feeling like there is a predetermined set of what I should like and dislike in this series, or maybe I really love the Sonic series but the way I like it is just too different from others. This made me feel increasingly alienated.

Therefore, this time, I wanted to write about why I like them. Well, strangely, I end up looking at and searching for each of those enemies as if it were some monster collection game, so whether I like them or not, I have a strong attachment to them. So I think the reason I like the Forces Badniks is also connected to that attachment. Thank you if you read through this long post. I truly hope I did not offend you.



I do not know if I will get hate for saying this, but I think I have grown to like the Forces Badniks.