Sonic Boom, Episode 2.21: Mombot

Sonic Boom, Episode 2.11: Mombot

Original Air Date: April 1st, 2017

After inventing a black hole generator that can make broccoli taste like applesauce, Eggman and his device enter into a science fair for children. When a little girl named Beth wins, Eggman is dispirited. He decides that he needs some unconditional love in his life. Thus, Mombot is built and brought online. At first, Eggman loves the praise and comforting Mombot gives him. However, after he fails to defeat Sonic, the mechanical matriarch starts to chastise him. The machine mommy then tries to get Eggman to befriend Sonic instead, the villain trying to use this as a way to crush Sonic again and earn the love of his guilting, smothering mother bot. 

Previous episodes of "Sonic Boom" have hinted at the neurosis that drive this version of Eggman. How his desire to conquer the world arises from a deep rooted insecurity, a need to earn validation for the genius he's created to defeat a nagging fear that he's not good enough. And as any therapist will tell you, such vulnerabilities almost always begin in childhood and with dysfunctional relationships with parents. As with all the "Boom" cast, we don't know anything about this version of Eggman's backstory. Certainly, his relationship with his parents has only been hinted at in the vaguest of ways. Yet this episode makes it clear that the mad scientist has some mommy hang-ups. He repeatedly states his desire for unconditional love, to cover for a world that rejects him and his own sense of not being good enough. Like any parent should, Mombot provides that... At first, anyway. However, the robot mama quickly shows her affection is quite conditional. She tries to mold him into her vision of an ideal son, trying to convince him to choose a more practical career. She dismisses his ambitions, says she wishes he was a "real" doctor, and generally goads and manipulates him in various clearly toxic ways. This emotionally abusive relationship eventually becomes obviously abusive, as Mombot smacks Eggman in the face during a climatic scene. 

It's all plated for laughs but I honestly can't help but find it kind of fucked up. Even more so because... Eggman programmed Mombot to be the perfect mother. She was literally designed to always be loving and supportive. That her behavior eventually skews in such a negative direction can't help but suggest something: Eggman subconsciously programmed Mombot to emulate the behavior of his actual mother. I mean, come on, a mad scientist is only building a perfect mother if his actual mom was distant, smothering, and guilting. This suggests something rather true: We are all molded by our childhoods, by our relationships with our parents. Even if we work really hard to overcome the shortcomings of those bonds, they can go on to define our whole lives. If Eggman's actual mom treated him similarly, it would explain his desperate need for validation. 

Obviously, all of this is probably accidental. A much simpler joke is at work here: It's funny to see someone who is supposed to be a supervillain being pushed around by his own mother or, at least, a substitute for his mother. The writers of "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" came to the same conclusion, with far more unhinged results. (Though both Momma Robotnik and Mombot share the gag of having a big mustache, just like their sons.) In order to further necessitate this set-up, "Mombot" returns to a characterization for the villain it has occasionally touched upon. Namely, Eggman as an (Egg)manchild. He claps with boyish glee when Mombot cuts his mustache with a bowl or puts a puzzle together with him. It's a Puppy Dog Pals puzzle, returning to Eggman's most persistently childish attribute. Yet even before he builds himself a mother, he's acting a bit like an overgrown kid here. The first scene has him looking for a solution to eating broccoli before he enters a contest for children. Later, he gets a kids meal from Meh Burger. As I've said before, the "Boom" cast behave differently depending on the needs of the script but Eggman is definitely being a bit more childish here than usual.

Naturally, as I've said a hundred times before, any such inconsistencies can be forgiven as long as they are funny. Most of the jokes involving Mombot and Eggman's relationship are pretty good. I like how she knits scarfs for everyone and how she insists Eggman and Sonic become friends. (Eggman requesting a momtage really got me to chuckle.) When the heroes come to visit, her prying, correcting behavior is inflicted on Sonic, Amy, and Sticks in ways that are quite amusing. The script also features a number of weirdly topical jokes, including references to the Large Hadron Collider, Pluto being downgraded from planet status, and climate change. And if you think that is a little weird, the episode also features a reference to "Chinatown." 

Some of the episode's best jokes actually emerge from the B-plot. That involved Tails taking the winner of the science fair, Beth the Shrew, on a tour around his lab and trying to interest her in science. Instead, she becomes enamored of Knuckles' ability to smash things. Clearly, this is a gag on the short attention spans of children. That Beth remains sweet and respectful, calling everyone "Mister," leads to some amusing contrast. Such as Sticks' reaction when she attempts to dissuade the badger's conspiracy theory logic. One assumes that this subplot is meant to tie into the episode's theme of child rearing. Yet it never really goes anywhere, Beth last being seen wandering off with Sticks after becoming enchanted with her rambling paranoid delusions. (A chilling prediction of how popular conspiracies would become with kids on TikTok.) 

If that subplot seems to wander off without a proper conclusion, the same can be said for the whole episode. After the confrontation as dinner, Eggman decides he has to deactivate his bitchy robo-mom. Instead, he decides he can't do such a thing and then the episode awkwardly ends. Perhaps writer Joelle Sellner realized things had gotten too dark with the slap. There clearly wasn't enough time left in the episode for Eggman and Mombot to talk out their obvious issues. Instead of making an attempt, Sellner cooked up the quickest ending she could think of. But considering the subplot also ends so abruptly, maybe this one was just a rush job. 

By the way, Eggman referenced Mombot in the previous episode. The episode order currently on Tubi is different from the original air order I've been following all along. I guess this suggests the production order was different then the air order. Unless a tossed-off, nonsensical line about Eggman having a Mombot in a previous episode inspired this one. Either way, it's an episode with a lot of potential that it never quite reaches. And as shitty a parent as Mombot is, at least she's not the eldritch abomination Momma Robotnik was. Every generation tries to do better than the one before it, ya know? [6/10]