Roboticization
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- This article is about the fictional concept. For the use of robots and other computerized systems to replace human labor in the manufacturing process, see automation.
In several fictional universes, roboticization is a process used to transform living creatures into robots. Most often, this process is employed by villains, who use it to turn people or creatures into mindless slaves or soldiers.
In situations in which the roboticized characters play important roles, the success with which the mind of the victims is dominated varies. Some can retain vestiges of self-control, and often rebel at the forces that attempted to subjugate them.
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[edit] Sonic the Hedgehog
In the Sonic video games, Dr Eggman uses tiny animals, such as Flickies, to power some of his robots, which Sonic usually has to free by spin-dashing said robot.
In the Archie comics, SatAM and Sonic Underground continuities of Sonic the Hedgehog, the evil Dr. Robotnik uses a "roboticizer" machine to transform the anthropomorphic animals of Mobius into robotic slaves (initially called badniks, then "Robians"). In these continuities, Sonic's Uncle Chuck was roboticized, and in the Archie comics and SatAM continuities the character of Bunnie Rabbot was partially roboticized, and several other characters also underwent temporary roboticizations, either willingly as part of a plan to combat one of Robotnik's latest schemes, or unwillingly as part of a story arc. In Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog, a similar form of roboticization is used in fewer episodes when Dr. Robotnik fires his ray gun (his Robo Ray as he calls it) at living beings.
[edit] Doctor Who
Roboticization was a central theme in a serial in the Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel storyline in Doctor Who, where the Earth's population were 'upgraded' into unthinking machines. In addition to this use of Roboticization the second of the "new" Doctor Who series, the conversion of humans into the ranks of the Cybermen has featured in many of the stories involving the creatures in the old series.
[edit] Star Trek Universe
The Borg, arguably influenced by the Cybermen, have a process of assimilation that converts the target into a cyborg, and "plugs" the target into the network of the Borg Collective, a hive mind mentality.
[edit] Mortal Kombat
In the Mortal Kombat universe, the Lin Kuei clan of ninja used this process to increase the strength of their most powerful warriors and make them fanatically loyal. The characters Sektor, Cyrax and Smoke have been subject to it, and it features prominently in the backstory of Sub-Zero. Cyrax later had the procedure partially reversed in an effort to regain his soul, and Smoke appears to have internal conflicts between his robotic self and his human spirit, suggesting that his soul remained somewhat intact when he was roboticized (Smoke was not a willing participant in the automation of the Lin Kuei; he attempted escape with Sub-Zero, but, unlike his cryomancer friend, was captured). Here, the process is referred to as automation.
- See also: List of Mortal Kombat species#Cyborg and Automaton
[edit] Spyro the Dragon
In the Spyro series, Red the Dragon either created or stole the technology he needed to turn normal gnorcs into his own robot slaves, with the help of the Professor. However, this technology backfired on him when Spyro charged him into the generator, causing him to become what fans have deemed as Mecha-Red, the final boss in Spyro: A Hero's Tail.
[edit] Quake series
In the Quake games captured soldiers are stroggified, a form of roboticization installing lots of military hardware in a computer controlled hospital. In Quake4 Mark Kane is undergoing the same process.
[edit] Virtua Fighter
In the Virtua Fighter games, Kage's mother Tsuki-Kage was presumably roboticized by J6 to create Dural, though it isn't directly hinted at.
[edit] Ratchet & Clank
In Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Dr. Nefarious used a device called Biobliterator to raid planets, turning populations of organic life forms into robots.
[edit] Ghost in the Shell
In the Ghost in the Shell series, people can undergo a procedure called cyberization, a process which allows one to have a partial or fully mechanical body(in the case of a fully mechanical body, still remaining a human consciousness).
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