Actually, I was only just thinking that the idea of the "Deadly Six" is Sonic's version of Spiderman's Sinister Six (even though they were based off of a mythological "ogre").
Leave them be. They had their time in both Lost World and Forces. While a lot of different strange things exist in the Sonic franchise, I just don't think they have enough of that 90s cool factor, or fun explorable Adventure style sonic world story lore to ever make them interesting. I think Sonic plots just sort of fell apart after the loss of Naka, who was clearly just a Japanese otaku turned game designer who poached the coolest anime elements of the 80s and 90s and threw them into high end game production of the day. Often (kind of stealing, really) the best of elements from various shows/films, but retooling them in a way that was at least artful and expressive. The Six don't strike me as anything like that. They don't have the genuinely funny appeal of comedy villains like the AOSTH badniks, Bocoe/Decoe, or even Orbot/Cubot.
What will always frustrate me completely is how NONE of the Six's elements are cohesive in in any way. Why is their ability to psychically control robots when there aren't any real industrial elements on Lost Hex natively? Like, what a dumbass power they had no use for until Eggman showed up??? How did they even know they can do it when they aren't any robots in their homeworld?? Why are they in turn controlled by a CONCH SHELL when nothing about them or the world is nautical themed?! Devils, Conch shells, robotic mind control. It's like they pulled all this crud out of a hat. None of it meshes visually or thematically. Lost Hex doesn't look like it was ever inhabited by more of them or literally anything else, so what is their history? What were they doing before Eggman showed up, just sitting around bored? Their entire existence begs a million questions but none if it in the interesting way that makes you want to know more. Mostly because we know that there was no intent to actually flesh anything out. The theoretical untapped potential of the Six exists because in theory any character could be written with enough depth or charisma to make them endearing. But as an audience we know that will never be allowed to happen.
If I'm going to be blunt with things here, it all basically boils down to this: The writers just didn't care. I feel like all these problems with the Zeti exist simply due to those two writers throwing things in without any cohesive thought or care to flesh things out.
Since my first post involved positivity towards Forces, I might as well throw away more credibility out the gate with my second. :p So yeah, the Deadly Six have...not-so-indepth personalities. I don't really get why that's automatically a negative? Like, as basic as they are, I seriously do see potential for entertaining interactions as they are now. Negaduck for example is absolutely one-dimensional, but that doesn't stop him from being one of the best cartoon villains period. As for the argument that they don't fit in with the series design-wise, I really don't agree with that either. I'd like to try an experiment where I render them in the style of the classic Japanese Sonic artwork; I'm willing to bet it'd work surprisingly well. And finally, I'd like it if Zavok interacted with his fellow zeti more, because I actually enjoyed the few times that has happened so far. I like how he treats Zik, his former master, with respect and...is it sexist to say that I also liked how he used flattery to get Zeena to do what he wanted? I mean, he didn't use threats or brutishness or anything like that, he simply manipulated her. I just think that added an interesting little aspect to his character is all I'm saying. I'm not trying to be sexist with that last comment guys, honest.
Sonic Forces had the perfect opportunity to add depth to at least Zavok, but ruined it. Zavok's dialogue prior to his boss battle implies that he had the same memories and personality as his original self. His original self not only hated Sonic, but turned on Eggman the very first chance he had rather than even pretend to play along at any point. As a Zeti, he has the power to overtake Eggman's technology at will, and he was assigned to be Sonic's prison warden in the Death Egg, one of Eggman's original super-weapons that no doubt had the same functionality as it did in it's original appearances, and was all the way up in space where he wasn't under Eggman's direct supervision at any point. Wouldn't this be the perfect setup for another attempt to overthrow him? Zavok was originally the final and most difficult battle involving any of the Deadly Six in Lost World, but he was reduced to being the warm-up boss in Forces. When I first saw that setup, my first thought was that he's letting Sonic escape intentionally. That would allow him the perfect excuse to return to the planet, claiming to be re-capturing his prisoner. Why would he want to do that? Remember that Eggman's prototype Phantom Ruby was floating around out there, but we didn't fully know it's effects on any of Infinite's creations. It would be fully understandable for Zavok to believe that finding it would allow him to stabilize himself and resist any attempt Infinite made to dispel him. So we'd have a three-way conflict going on. Sonic & Co. would be at war with Eggman & Infinite, while Zavok would be the sneaky third party looking for a way to beat both of them without being caught. Zavok's tech-controlling power could work as a more-subtle tech-jamming ability, to prevent Eggman from realizing what he was attempting to do, and only using it to keep the player at bay, justifying enemies in levels where Zavok is the immediate enemy rather than Eggman. Of course, he'd realize that the prototype Ruby would have the opposite effect of what he wanted, his body fading away if he tried to reach for it. Now imagine Zavok's rage-fueled, mutinous personality if he realized that any hope of personal power was out of reach, and instead of fighting him and his wrath and pride, we had to deal with him and a never-before-seen insane rage due to his plans and scheming being useless from the very beginning. Personally, I think that would be the perfect way to expand on the original personality beyond just "generic Bowser clone" in Lost World. Show how he handles it when more is falling apart around him beyond just a wounded pride. Even better would be if the original Deadly Six are brought back in a later game, and we've seen a side of him that he's never even aware had been exposed since it was a Ruby-created doppelganger rather than the original, and the implications of the main characters being more familiar with fighting him than he's aware. After all, from his viewpoint, he's only fought Sonic once. Sonic's fought against him multiple times now, and would be more than prepared for any tricks or schemes he'd come up with. That would make for a pretty interesting story and character dynamic in itself, seeing Zavok's reaction and response to Eggman's actions in duplicating him in Forces.
