Mechanoid

Mechonoids were large spherical robots originally built by humans to help colonise worlds until they were abandoned and forgotten on Mechanus. The Mechonoids became a force in their own right and Mechanus became their home planet. They were one of the few beings who could prove a match for the Daleks.

They were alternatively known as Mechons to the Daleks. (TV: The Chase)

Characteristics
The Mechonoids used flame guns as weapons. (PROSE: Birth of a Legend)

Morality and culture
Mechonoids did not seem to be inherently bad or good, as they only turned violent when their home planet was threatened. Otherwise, they seemed to be peaceful and open to visitors; when the First Doctor, along with his companions, encountered a Mechonoid, it had them follow it back to the city, and detained them to inquire about them. (TV: The Chase) Vicki Pallister once described the Mechonoids as "over bureaucratic service robots". (AUDIO: Frostfire)

Unlike the Daleks, Mechonoids understood the concept of beauty. (WC: Planet of the Mechanoids)

Serving human colonies
The Mechonoids were originally obedient robots sent by humans to Mechanus to prepare the planet for colonisation. However, Earth got caught up in interplanetary wars such as the Human-Draconian War, the Second Dalek War and the Third Dalek War which put an end to the Earth Empire's expansionist phase (PROSE: The Chase) and the colonists never arrived.

Alone on Mechanus, the Mechonoids continued to fulfill their function of keeping the colony ready for the humans if they ever arrived, and imprisoned any intruders who did not possess the colonists' original recognition code. For instance, Steven Taylor crash-landed on Mechanus and was taken prisoner by the Mechonoids because he did not know the code. The Daleks followed the Doctor's TARDIS to Mechanus and battled the Mechonoids. (TV: The Chase)

The Mechonoids came close to winning by drawing the Daleks into an ambush at Mechonoid City, only for the Daleks to destroy the city with an atom divider. The survivors swore revenge. (COMIC: The World That Waits)

The Daleks later fought other Mechonoids, whose purpose was likewise simply to keep an abandoned colony pristine for nonexistent human masters, on Hesperus. (PROSE: War of the Daleks) By 2382, Mechanoids were no longer used by humans, and had not been for some time. (PROSE: Fear of the Dark)

A growing empire
The Mechonoids, having grown into a fearsome interplanetary power, first clashed with the expanding Dalek Empire when they built a space station for refuelling on the route to the planet Oric. The Mechonoids used their suspicion ray on one of the Daleks there, causing it to perceive other Daleks as its enemies and kill them. The Mechonoid Interceptor which held the ray was destroyed by the Daleks, but the Dalek ship was then attacked and melted by two other Mechonoid ships. The Mechonoids then broadcast a message to the Daleks on Skaro, warning them to avoid their territory. The Daleks instead began preparing for war with the Mechonoids. (COMIC: Eve of War)

The Zerovians, seeking to prevent war from breaking out between the Daleks and the Mechonoids, sent their robot agent, 2K, to accomplish this. The robot manipulated the Daleks into destroying the rogue planet Skardal, which they had set on a collision course with Mechanus, then told the Mechonoids that the Daleks had saved them purposely. The Mechonoids then called off the war, although they still considered the Daleks their enemies. (COMIC: Impasse)

At some point, the Mechonoids fought a series of wars with the Thals. (AUDIO: Brotherhood of the Daleks)

Alongside other monsters, some fearsome Mechanoids were time scooped into the Death Zone by Morbius to battle with several incarnations of Iris Wildthyme. (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress, Verdigris)

On Lethe, Davros combined organic tissue with Mechonoid shells to create Juggernauts. (AUDIO: The Juggernauts)

During the 41st century, Mechonoid shells were recovered from worlds ravaged by the Daleks and brought to Station 7. At some point, a Dalek force attacked the station while searching for "the Abomination", and the Mechonoid shells were destroyed along with the station. (COMIC: The Only Good Dalek)

Under the Mechanoid Queen
In the timeline created by temporal fluctuations, (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times) caused by the Tenth Doctor poisoning the Kotturuh in the Dark Times, (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead) the Mechanoids were ruled on Mechanus by a Mechanoid Queen. (WC: Planet of the Mechanoids)

Whilst losing to the Entity, the Dalek Emperor travelled to Mechanus, accompanied by the Prime Strategist and a small entourage of Silver Daleks, and the Queen greeted his arrival. He admitted he had come to ask for help and she took him to her star chamber, leading his saucer guarded, where they reviewed the Entity’s trail of destruction through the Dalek Empire. At the same time the Strategist demanded to see a scientist and was eventually met by Mechanoid 2150, who took him to inspect the orbital defences. The Silver Daleks became impatient and attacked the Mechanoids, who destroyed them. The Queen and Emperor observed the skirmish and she noted the lack of Dalek reinforcements, wondering if the Emperor and Strategist were now the only two Daleks left. A power drain began affecting the City, despite the Strategist and Mechanoid 2150 trying to stop it, leaving the Mechanoids defenceless. With the power completely gone, the Emperor revealed to the Queen that he’d led the Entity to Mechanus. (WC: Planet of the Mechanoids)

After Mechonoids returned the Entity back to where it came from, the Queen allowed the Dalek Emperor to escape Mechanus. She promised that the Mechonoids would return and bring an end to the Daleks. (WC: The Deadly Ally)

Later history
The Mechonoids' last stronghold was on Magella. The Daleks attacked and destroyed all the Mechonoids, making them extinct. (PROSE: Birth of a Legend)

In the City of the Saved, the Universal Machine resurrected and inhabited all technology which had been created by humankind. At the start of the Civil War, Julian White Mammoth Tusk noticed a "locomoting geodesic spheroid with integrated flame-throwing device" among the Machine's robot battle forces. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

Behind the scenes

 * No explanation has been given to explain how the Mechonoids went from being human servants on television to their status as an independent space-faring race of equal power to the Daleks in the comics.
 * Designer Raymond Cusick contended that the Mechonoids were originally meant to be called the "Mechons". However, the name had to be altered due to the similarity with Dan Dare's main enemy, the Mekon. (DCOM: Day of Armageddon) Nonetheless, the Daleks do call the Mechonoids "Mechons" at one point in The Chase. The Mekon later influenced the visual design of Davros. (BBC DVD: Genesis of the Daleks)