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krissiefox · 2 years

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Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog - Momma Robotnik's Birthday (Screenshots 1 of 4)

Here's an episode where we learn that part of Robotnik's problem may be the same as Eustace Bagge form Courage the Cowardly Dog - they both have extremely abusive mothers. That doesn't excuse either of them for being such jerks, but it does at-least explain it somewhat.

It's Momma Robotnik's birthday, and she's broken out of the "Mobius Home for Really Bizarre Mothers " so she can visit her son with the assumption that he has gotten her a gift. This does establish that there is some sort of governmental authority on mobius that can jail dangerous individuals, and you'd think they would be doing the same with Dr. Robotnik - but then the show wouldn't be able to happen! So for the sake of the audience, I guess they let Robotnik roam free.

Momma Robotnik's design is a fun one, to me - reminiscent of Grandma Flexington from Borderlands, turning a few tropes on their side, and being a mix of traits you don't see put together as often. She has a similar build as Robotnik, and evne the same taste in facial hair grooming, She's even more mean and nasty than he is, but also dresses like a stereo-typically pleasant little grandma. Her facial hair could have been used for very uncomfortable transphobic jokes, but the script handles her appearance surprisingly well for a 90s cartoon.

She is shown to much stronger than the ol' doctor, as she easily breaches his fortresses defenses and is immediately angered that Robotnik hasn't gotten her a gift. She wants the Mobius National Park destroyed because it's near where she lives and she doesn't like the view. Robotnik, eager to please her, gets right to doing so.

Scratch and Grounder, of course, mess it up. At one point Sonic tricks them by setting up a fake game show in which he dons a strange wig and speaks into a microphone that looks like it is made out of a cookie. Maybe it really was a cookie, and Sonic ate it after he was done using it as a prop? I like to think so. :)

This scene also reveals that Sonic seems to possess reality-altering powers. When Robotnik tries to warn Scratch and Grounder that they're being tricked, Sonic guts Grounders phone line - which somehow also cuts Robotnik's phone line!

Momma Robotnik has now seen Robotnik screw up twice in one day, and decides she's going to give herself a present instead. She sets out to trick Tails with a sad story about her son. When Tails meets her, he is confused, as he at first thinks she is Dr. Robotnik, but then says "that couldn't be. unless he turned himself into a girl?" and goes closer to see what's going on. Unlike some people today, Tails doesn't freak out, yell at or make fun of what he perceives as "Robotnik turned into a girl". If only everyone could be as trans-positive as Tails was even back in the 90s.

The scene that follows is rather sweet and touching, even though Tails is being lied to. Momma Robotnik says that her son went bad because he lost his favorite stuffed animal "Fuzzy Wuzzy". She shows flashback footage of Robotnik as a baby, though his design in these shots is so strange that I didn't realize it was supposed to be him at first. Tails feels very badly for her, and promises to help. We also see that Tails has learned how to write since the sloth episode. Tails is growing up and helping folks in need!

Tails leaves Sonic a note, and Sonic comically tears up the landscape to stop his momentum when he sees it. and Tails says he loves Sonic on the note, aww! Sonic decides that Tails is in trouble, and wants to go make sure he's okay. That's a fair assumption given that all he knows about Robotnik's family is that Robotnik is habitually ...ehh...not-very-nice to others. Along the way he runs into coconuts in a brief slapstick scene that doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the rest of the plot, and I wonder if it was added in just to make sure the episode was long enough. (not that it was a bad sequence, it just felt out of place to me)

Eventually, Sonic reaches the old Robotnik home where he finds poor Tails not only tied up, but upside down! That can't feel very good. I'm usually uninterested in the background scenery of the show, but I liked the color scheme for this location. Everything being colored in a darker blue tone gives it a gloomy and ominous feel, which is fitting for a possibly abandoned old house in which a mother probably used to abuse her child. There's a pile of old junk and machinery laying in the front yard, which I like to think are old mechanical scraps that Dr. Robotnik tinkered with when he still lived there.

A rather dramatically silhouetted version of Momma Robotnik's face emerges from the shadows. Sonic exclaims "Robotnik in a dress?!" and makes a grossed-out looking face, which was, to my relief, the closest the episode ever comes to anything that could come across as transphobic - and considering Sonic happily wears dresses himself many times in this show, it's more likely that he just finds Robotnik very off-putting in any form. (An interesting aside, I don't think yet to hear Sonic making any fat jokes about Robotnik yet in this series, despite remembering a ton of that form my childhood. I'm starting to wonder if he only actually did that in SatAm? So far the Aosth version of Sonic may be beating the SatAm one in terms of wholesomeness)

Anyway, Tails corrects Sonic - "That's his mom. she's even worse than he is!" Sonic quickly unties Tails and moves him to a safer distant as both Robotnik's emerge onto the houses porch. Momma Robotnik sends out "Fuzzy Wuzzy" who turns out to be real, despite Momma Robotnik's general dishonesty. The small teddy bear transforms into a strange two-headed bear robot-monster that looks he may have once worked at a local pizza place. Poor Tails is terrified and cowers behind Sonic, and Fuzzy goes after Tails shortly before Sonic starts to kick his butt. Robotnik becomes very distressed as it revealed that Fuzzy Wuzzy actually is very important to him, and might just be one of the first people we've seen Robotnik genuinely care about besides himself (and maybe his mom?). He begs Sonic to stop hurting the bear, and Sonic concedes after Robotnik promises to be good. Unfortunately for the doctor, this pisses off his mother again and she starts to hit him. Luckily, an ambulance shows up and some men come out to escort Momma Robotnik back to the institute. Robotnik is conflicted about his mother leaving, showing that despite her abuse, he still cares for her, though he is also relieved that she won't be around to hurt him, at-least for a while. Other than Sonic and Tails talking about food for a bit, this is the kind of sad note the episode ends on, making Dr. Robotnik feel very pitiful again. At-least he has his old friend Fuzzy Wuzzy back now?

This episode lightly touches on things that could have been interesting character explorations if the show had tried leaning into more mature topics and themes. Robotnik's complicated feelings regarding his mother are a real thing for many people. Some people who are abused by their parents have no problem just cutting ties and moving out on their own, but others may have internalized an unhealthy attachment to their abuser like we see in Dr. Robotnik. Even when she constantly beats and yells at him, he cries when she is taken away. Robotniks attachment to "Fuzzy Wuzzy" also adds a rather sad element to the guy, hinting that this plush toy/robot may have been something of a great comfort during a very bad childhood.

Lastly, the Sonic Sez segment is another good one: Sonic teaches the audience about the importance of nature conservation, specifically taking care of trees. He encourages folks to plant saplings to keep the environment stable and hopefully cut down on things like smog, especially if they live in a urban area where plant life is more scarce.

Bonus Fun Fact: Momma Robotnik is voiced by Kathleen Barr , who also plays Trixie, Chrysalis and Yona's mom on My Little Pony!

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