One thing that really fascinates me about the Roboticized Mobians is the fact that, at least in the finished cartoon and comic spinoff, they're supposed to be percieved as generic labour drones; utilitarianly referred to as Worker-Bots. And yet, they all have such distinctive and unique designs which sympathetically preserve the original Mobian's identity. They aren't generic, indistinguishable drones; they all look unique. I understand that the original intention was to emphasise that these 'mindless robots' used to be people and drive the horror of what Robotnik does to his opponents, but the mere fact that the Roboticized Mobians maintain their unique looks gives me the impression that, somehow, they still have a conscious sense of self. This is completely irrational thinking, I know, but I think it's really fascinating to think that, instead of trapping their free wills behind a wall, the Roboticizer brainwashes the Mobians into thinking that they have always been robots with an absurdly complex AI that can maintain the complexity of an organic brain. I mean, in recent iterations of the Sonic universe, Eggman's Robots have consistently been portrayed having human level consciousness and personalities. Maybe, in the SatAM universe, it could be because their minds aren't AIs that were built from scratch, but actual people that were mentally and physically reformatted? This is a potentially disturbing idea, with the Freedom Fighters struggling to free the Roboticized Mobians, who don't realise or recognise them anymore. On the other side, I can also see a funny side to this situation regarding Robotnik. Roboticization is a quick and easy way of removing opponents and gaining a loyal workforce. However, the Mobians already have such diverse body shapes and proportions, even without considering age or height, so they can't all perform the simple role of 'Worker-Bot' to the same standard. You could go the grimdark route of imagining that Robotnik scraps the unsuitable Worker-Bots, effectively killing them, but I think that's going a bit too dark. Scrap could work as an idle threat, though. Personally I think it's more fun to imagine that, for whatever reason, Robotnik can't do anything to fix this problem and has to contend with keeping a record of which Worker-Bots work best in which area, or doesn't bother with that and lets the resulting delays occur when a Worker-Bot is tasked with an unsuitable job. Considering Robotnik's fragile ego and generally immature behaviour in SatAM, I think the resulting frustration at the workplace disasters would be quite funny. On top of that, if the Worker-Bots are to have some level of agency, their usurped loyalty must be maintained by genuine TLC, and if Robotnik doesn't treat his 'Worker-Bots' with enough respect, (either praise for their work, or maintenance to keep them healthy) he's looking at complaints, strike action and a potential uprising. Imagine Robotnik bailing, and coming to the Freedom Fighters for help because the 'Worker-Bots' have taken Robotropolis into their own hands!
Ultimately, I just find the Roboticized Mobians' designs genuinely fun; and I want to find a less disturbing way than what's canon for them to exist. I'm also probably biased because my comfort show is an absurdly in-depth documentation of sentient machines getting into trouble whilst working in hazardous industrial environments.
Yes, this is a real screenshot from Thomas the Tank Engine. The environments in this show can get quite gritty!
