Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)

Sonic the Hedgehog #125, featuring a portion of the cast.


The US comic book based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise, published monthly by Archie Comics. Not to be confused with the UK's Sonic the Comic.

Originally a tie-in with the SatAM series, the comic debuted in 1993. When the series ended, the comic, which by then had developed its own continuity, received an influx of readers that kept going. (Issue 50: special statements by writer) The comic was published monthly until 2017.

The backgrounds between the two were very similar at first: Dr. Robotnik had taken over the Kingdom of Acorn and had turned everyone into robots. He was opposed by the Freedom Fighters, a band of, well, freedom fighters that operated out of their secret base of Knothole. Sally Acorn was the leader while Sonic the Hedgehog was their main fighter. But almost immediately, the comic series started to make its own characters and plots, so even though there were "background" similarities between characters, their personalities and nearly every event made them wholly incongruent, despite some tie-in issues. (The cartoon was originally darker than the comic in tone, but under Ian Flynn's pen the comic approaches the general tone of season 2.)

Issue 50 is where the two mediums split entirely. Sally was put into a coma, Sonic was framed for her attempted murder, and Robotnik set in motion a doomsday plan to destroy Knothole. Sonic cleared his name and defeated Robotnik, who in the end was killed by his own nephew. Originally, Sally was meant to die, but editorial changed that to her waking up from her coma.

Meanwhile, Knuckles the Echidna got his own spinoff series that dealt with his role as the guardian of Angel Island. It ends up he (and this was a surprise to Knuckles) was the latest in a long line of guardians, The Brotherhood of Guardians, who protected Angel Island from the Dark Legion. The series dealt with Knuckles's role as Guardian while fighting the Dark Legion. A whole new (and very large) set of characters for Knuckles to interact with was introduced. This series was cancelled, but everyone who was introduced has been integrated into the main cast.

Since then, the story has gotten more complicated. A Robotnik from another timeline arrived to fill in his original's place and renamed himself Eggman. Other villains were introduced, like Mammoth Mogul and Scourge the Hedgehog, to expand the villainous cast. Sally's family turned up and caused shenanigans when Sally's father fired her from her leader position. Everyone who was turned into a robot was turned back and moved to Knothole, while the rest of the planet has been introduced and linked with Knothole. This in turn has changed the status quo from counter-revolutionaries fighting an oppressive government to all out war between two sides. A love triangle was introduced between Sonic, Sally, and Mina the Mongoose that lasted for a while, but has since been gotten rid of. An attempt to integrate all of Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 into the storyline resulted in further complications. Finally, Eggman eventually bombed Knothole into last week, so everyone had to be relocated to New Mobotropolis (built out of nanites, no less).

A companion series named Sonic Universe started in 2009. This series takes place in the same continuity, but focuses on events outside of the main comic.

The series has been subject to huge debate within the fans of the games, with accusations of Fan Dumb, Fan Wank, Dork Age, Character Derailment, and Nostalgia Filter being thrown from all sides over the quality of the series. Despite this, the series is actually the longest-running singular comic series based on a licensed franchise, and it retains a huge fanbase. They must be doing something right.

The series has its own character sheet that is in need of major contribution.

Has a (fairly exhaustive) Wiki in the Mobius Encyclopaedia.

Tropes used in Sonic the Hedgehog (comics) include:
  • Abusive Parents: Locke, sometimes, though he meant well.
  • Action Girl: Julie-Su, Bunnie, Sally, Amy, and several other ladies. It would actually be easier to name the girls who aren't this to some degree.
  • Action Mom: Lupe, who has two kids, Maria and Marcos, and two more when she adopts Overlanders Ariel and Athena (one of whom is mute).
  • After the End: The whole comic is set here.
    • Albeit an end the world's long since recovered from. Silver's time, 200 years in the future, is a better example (see Bad Future below).
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: NICOLE is a very nice AI, while A.D.A.M. is a very evil AI who tried to initiate a "Gray Goo" scenario. Honorable mention goes to the various Metal Sonics, Gamma, and Omega.
    • And before any of them? E.V.E.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Fiona preferred the "evil" version of Sonic to the real thing, and did a Face Heel Turn to stay his girlfriend when she found out "Sonic" was really "Scourge". (Well, this is what she claims, anyway... and this is Fiona we're talking about...)
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Robotnik's attack on Knothole in the EndGame arc, the Egg Fleet destroying Knothole, the Suppression Squad taking control of Freedom HQ, the Iron Dominion taking control of New Mobotropolis, Eggman attacking New Mobotropolis with the Death Egg Mk. II and Titan Metal Sonic, and the Battle Bird Armada's attack which destroyed the royal palace.
  • Alternative Calendar
  • Ambiguously Human: The Iron Queen. Initially her species wasn't said, but she looked quite human (tall, flesh-toned, and no giveaway animal characteristics such as fur, a snout, or a tail). When a fan later referred to her as an Overlander in a letters column, they were told she was actually a badger, but it was never mentioned or clarified in the story itself. Since her reappearance in the "Iron Dominion" arc, Ian Flynn has firmly established her as human, and had Sonic suggest through the Fourth Wall Mail Slot that the letters column had been trolled.
  • American Accents: Bunnie has a Dixie accent, despite there being no U.S. South.
  • And I Must Scream: This was a big part of the reason roboticization was supposed to be so horrifying.
  • Animal Gender Bender: Walt Wallaby of the Downunda Freedom Fighters has a pouch.
  • Answer Cut: Lampshaded in issue #124.
  • Anti-Hero: Shadow could be anywhere from type 3 to type 5. Lampshaded in issue #133.

Eggman: Shadow? What do you want?
Shadow: Your death, Eggman. I'm going to snap you like a twig, then use you for kindling.
Eggman: Not if I avoid you like the... devil? Wait a second! Good guys don't kill! Isn't there a hedgehog moral code?

Shadow: Sonic holds such beliefs. Then again, he's a hero, I'm not.

  • Arch Enemy:
    • Sonic has Eggman, naturally (though Scourge has a pretty credible claim as well, in his own mind at least)
    • Knuckles originally had Dimitri, though Finitevus eventually took the position after the former's shift into Anti-Villain territory and Heel Face Turn
    • Julie-Su and Lien-Da
    • Tails got one in Speedy.
  • Arc Welding: Issue 233 reveals that many of Geoffrey's past actions were actually part of a master plan to place Ixis Naugus on the throne.
    • And earlier, issue 224 revealed that several seemingly unrelated events in the Filler Arc following the Iron Dominion's defeat were actually part of Eggman's plan to convert the Eggdome into a new Death Egg.
    • During the "Enerjak Reborn" arc, it was revealed how just about everything Finitevus had done since his introduction had been part of his plan to create a new Enerjak. It was also revealed that he was the unnamed Echidna scientist who had attempted to return Chaos Knuckles to normal by draining his power (the backfire from that being what rendered him albino).
  • Arm Cannon: Bunnie has one. Which makes her faint when overused. The Iron Queen tried to kill her this way in issue 203.
  • Armed with Canon: Some of the Penders/Bollers feuding came down to this. Of particular note is the business with Antoine's bizarre behavioral change after the Time Skip: Bollers had intended it to be organic growth, and it was the linchpin for several stories planned down the line. Penders retconned it into having been the result of Antoine having been swapped out for his Evil Twin from another dimension.
  • Arranged Marriage: Maximillian and Alicia Acorn. Sally and Anti-Antoine's short marriage was also one of these, until Elias became king and annulled it.
  • Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: King Max to Sonic in #77.
  • Artistic Age
  • Artistic License Physics: In issue 175, after Eggman takes his taunts a little too far, Sonic has a break in his sanity and races over to the east coast in seconds and runs directly into Eggman's battle robot in the same amount of time, something that takes Eggman by surprise as he never believed Sonic could do that. The attack merely dents the shield because the robot was tailor-made to fight Sonic and counter his abilities, which proves its downfall when it's destroyed by Sonic's friends. The problem is that since the comic takes place on a future version of Earth, 175's fight takes place in what was Texas, it means Sonic crossed hundreds of miles -nearly a thousand miles- in seconds. Tailored to fight Sonic be damned, the force from a hit like that is an order of magnitude or two beyond anything Sonic's friends could ever manage, especially since Sonic would be going at least half a million miles an hour to make a hit like that, and should've destroyed the robot. Especially since Eggman never thought Sonic was capable of that, meaning it wasn't factored in the mech's design.
  • Art Evolution: The look of the comic has gone through a number of changes over the years. At first, the comic's characters and looks were similar to Sonic Sat AM. Around the time Sonic Adventure was released, the comic redesigned Sonic, Tails, and Amy to reflect their game counterparts. In addition, the comic took on an Animesque style overall. Eventually, the characters were redesigned again into their current form. Sally, Bunnie, and other characters were updated from their Western models to the styles used in the video games.
  • Art Shift: Some stories switched artists halfway through, such as "Night of 1000 Sonics" in issue #19. The "End Game" story arc was also a story arc that switched artists (and even co-writers) between installments, and then switched artists between scenes in the final chapter.
  • Art Style Dissonance: Stories where Jon Gray was the penciller are cartoony and hyper-exaggerated, which works great for the more comical moments, but the surprising part is that dramatic moments aren't Narmy. Gray's style is incredibly expressive, even for darker moments.
  • Ascended Extras: The Badniks from the first two Sonic games were major characters early on.
  • Ascended Meme: In issue 205, Robotnik says "Snoo-PING AS usual".
  • As You Know: Among others, the "dragons can't lie" plot point in Endgame, never mentioned before or since.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Titan Metal Sonic attacking New Mobotropolis during the fallout of the Genesis Arc in issue #231.
  • Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: Bean, typically and also literally—Fiona manages to ditch him by throwing a set of shiny keys out the window, knowing he'll dive after them.
  • The Atoner: Dimitri, currently, following his Heel Face Turn. Knuckles also had elements of this after his stint as Enerjak. And NICOLE and Espio seem to be heading in this direction following their actions during the Iron Dominion arc.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: The Battle Bird Armada's Battle Lord. Likewise, his son and heir, Speedy.
  • Axe Crazy: Rosy the Rascal, Amy's counterpart on Moebius. She's so in love with Scourge, she wants to bash his head in.
    • The villain Kodos becomes this after going crazy from radiation poisoning. Bonus points for actually wielding an axe.
    • Flying Frog is also pretty crazy—Scourge actually says that he makes Rosy look sane by comparison.
  • Back for the Dead: Hey, it's Sir Connery from back before "Endgame"! Anybody remember him? ...no? Well never mind...
  • Badass Mustache: Dr. Robotnik/Eggman.
  • Badass Normal: The closest thing Amy Rose has to a power is her Piko Piko Hammer. She is also the only one capable of going toe-to-toe with the Nigh Invulnerable Iron King.
  • Bad Future: Silver comes from a time after some cataclysm destroyed the world, leaving only isolated pockets of civilization.
    • And the X Years Later stories were a Bad Future when King Shadow was running things.
    • And the future where Dr. Eggman came from, which he decided to nuke before heading to Mobius Prime.
  • Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Subverted in the "Enerjak Reborn" story-arc. The Freedom Fighters are desperate to stop Knuckles, who has been turned into Enerjak and gone mad with power, and it seems that they might have to destroy him. Enter Eggman, who shows up with his Egg Fleet and warps Knuckles into a prison where he intends to drain the life from him to power his city. Needless to say, Knuckles breaks free and Eggman almost wets his pants.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: In the aftermath of the Iron Dominion and Genesis arcs, Naugus manages to convince the citizens of New Mobotropolis to make him their king.
  • Bald of Evil: Dr. Robotnik/Eggman and his nephew Snively.
    • Snively doesn't think of himself as bald. Having about three hairs doesn't really count as a "full head of hair", but he's vain and deluded enough to think it does.
    • Six hairs. That he's attached tracking devices (?!) to...
    • Those hairs are REALLY important to him.
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animals: A few examples, such as Nicole in her lynx form, Rosemary Prower (Tails's mother), and the alien Ceneca-9009.
    • Bunnie Rabbot D'Coolette after being deroboticized by Ixis Naugus.
  • The Baroness: Lien-Da. She even has a whip!
  • Battle Royale With Cheese: The aptly titled Super Special Battle Royale, which only exists to depict the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix beating the crap out of one another.
  • Beta Couple: Antoine and Bunnie.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: Robotnik/Eggman has always been the overall Big Bad of the series, but there have always been villains who are independent of him who are major threats on their own (i.e. Finitevus, Scourge, Naugus, Mogul, the Iron Queen etc.). This is most apparent after the Genesis arc, where Naugus becomes equal to Eggman in terms of the threat he presents to the heroes, and his effect on the central plot.
    • For that matter, both Black Doom and Eggman Nega have been confirmed to exist in this continuity, but neither of them has shown up directly yet due to copyright issues between Archie and Sega.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Evil Sonic before he became Scourge. And Snively's an even better example - he successfully killed off Robotnik only to quickly become Eggman's toady instead, and even after Eggman went insane and he teamed up with the Iron Queen, it's obvious that Snively wasn't the one wearing the pants in that "relationship".
  • Big Badass Wolf: A whole mess of them form the Freedom Fighter cell known as, you guessed it, the Wolf Pack.
  • Biological Mashup: Naugus' origin.
  • Blessed with Suck: Bunnie had her share of angst about being part Robian, but she mostly came to terms with it and used her abilities to help in the fight against Robotnik. Then she found out that her robot parts were literally killing her, and was forced to upgrade.
    • Even more so with Sonic's Uncle Chuck and father Jules. After getting his mind freed from Robotnik's control, Chuck would use his status to spy on the mad doctor's revelation. Jules, however, has gotten the worst of it - every other Robian has been restored to their original form but him, isolating him from his family and everyone else around him.
      • Jules gets better about it, though, especially once it was revealed that the very reason for his roboticization in the first place (a wound he suffered in the Great War that would have killed him) would mean his death if he was ever deroboticized.
  • Bodyguard Betrayal: Heavy and Bomb, members of King Acorn's secret service, are reprogrammed by Eggman and ordered to kill the royal family after they are "rescued" from Robotropolis.
  • Book Ends: Issues 225 and 230, with the titles One Step Forward... and ...Two Steps Back.
  • Bounty Hunter: Nack and his sister Nic fill this trope to a T.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: This has happened to a few characters, but one notable example is what happened to Monkey Khan at the hands of the Iron Queen.
    • Knuckles when he became Enerjak falls under this. It is hinted at that all Enerjaks might be controlled by a greater persona as well.
    • Sonic Universe Issue 37 revealed that this is what happened to G.U.N. Commander Hugo Brass.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Marine (no surprise there).
  • Break the Cutie: Hershey during the End Game arc, when she learned that her Jerkass ex-boyfriend Drago Wolf tricked her into [almost] killing Sally. Let's just say that near the conclusion, the traitorous wolf learned the hard way about "a woman scorned"...
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Occurs several times in the earlier issues. One example is Robotnik finding Crabmeat reading a Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comic. He then punishes Crabmeat for reading the comic of his most hated enemy, before getting the idea to use the other comic books Crabmeat has for ideas for other robots. And yes, the other comic books are implied to be real comics as well. No, it doesn't make any sense.
    • Also falling into this category is Eggman's ramblings in issue 205. It appears he's finally figured out that he's in a licensed comic book. He still wants to get that hedgehog, though.
  • The Brigadier: Commander Abraham Tower.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Chaos Knuckles turning to regular Knuckles in #125, and Bunnie being deroboticized in #232.
  • Butt Monkey: Pre-character development Antoine.
    • On the villains' side, Drago. The fans hated him so much, he is punched in the nose once every appearance.
    • Similarly, Nack the Weasel has started becoming this more in his recent appearances.
  • C-List Fodder: Much of Ian Flynn's first year was spent rounding up and exterminating these by the truckload.
  • Cain and Abel: Lien-Da and Julie-Su.
  • The Cameo: So far, the only appearances of Black Doom and the Black Arms aliens are a memory image of Black Doom and a single panel showing the Xorda locked in a war with the Black Arms (which explains why the Xorda never returned to see if their attack on Mobius succeeded).
    • |Mephiles the Dark and Void appeared as inmates in the Zone Jail in Sonic Universe #29.
    • Chester Cheetah appears in issue 72. For some reason.
  • Canon Foreigner: Tons. They outnumber the original characters.
  • Capulet Counterpart: What happened with Julie-Su and Knuckles. Made even stronger when it's revealed that Julie-Su is one of Dimitri's descendants.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: The series hasn't been entirely consistent about which of its antagonists openly identify as evil, but Robotnik and Anti-Sonic/Scourge definitely do.
    • As does Drago. When he and Razorklaw captured Sally in issue 214, the latter suggested just killing her, which led to Drago scolding him for not messing with her first and calling Razorklaw a lousy villain.
  • Casting a Shadow: This seems to be a common ability for Ixis wizards, as both Naugus and Geoffrey have it.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: Oh my yes.
  • Cat Fight: A really, really blatant one was set up between Bunnie and Rouge.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: Although based on the more serious Sonic the Hedgehog, the earlier comics were much more similar to Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in tone, with little continuity. The series got more serious and interconnected as it went on. The Endgame arc is pretty much the point where things have fully shifted, though there are a few occasional one-shot lighter comics interspersed here and there.
    • Well manifested in Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal. When they first appeared in #2 or so, they were wacky and bright, always playing around by being able to change the laws of physics of their dimension. When we run into them in #59, it turns out the Ultimate Annihilator destroyed their home, they blamed each other during the rebuild, and now they're giant robots in a never-ending war against each other. Starkest. Contrast. Ever. Even worse: this is the last we see of them.
      • They reappear in Sonic Universe #29, where it's revealed that their fight got so bad the Zone Cops eventually had to place them under arrest. Incidentally, they're now back in their human-ish appearance.
  • Characterization Marches On: Robotnik (the first one) was more like his Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog self in early comics, even though he looked like his Sonic the Hedgehog counterpart. Starting with issue 25, a more dangerous, psychotic side started to show, and while he never quite reached the level of nightmarish evil of the Sonic the Hedgehog Robotnik, he was pretty close to it by Endgame.
    • This applies to the whole original cast for the most part, who were portrayed as much wackier and bumbling in the original comics, Sally in particular was a far more brattish and prissy character compared to current persona, which is arguably the nearest to a "normal" character in the comics.
  • Cheeky Mouth: It's Sonic the Hedgehog. Of course he has this.
  • Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Antoine was pretty much the personification of this trope in earlier issues.
  • Chickification: Sally Acorn was like this for a while. Thankfully ,it didn't last. Surprisingly, though, the lasting effects of it have yet to be Retconned or reversed...
    • Happened to her in reverse over the early issues. Sally grew more competent due to a combination of Cerebus Syndrome, bringing her characterization more in line with Sonic the Hedgehog, and getting her own mini-series.
    • Most of the other female characters got Chickified at the same time Sally did (roughly around #132), but Sally's was so over-the-top that the other cases went largely unnoticed. Thankfully, it didn't last for them either.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Snively has this problem and everyone knows it.
    • All the characters from Moebius have this as well. Being evil doubles of the main characters means that most of them are too arrogant to work together without trying to backstab each other.
    • Sleuth Dawg. Oh so much.
    • Bean and Bark betrayed the team Mammoth Mogul hired to hunt down Sonic when Sally offered them more money. When Nack managed to snipe Sonic with a stun laser... they switched right back to Mogul's side.
    • Lien-Da also has shades of this.
  • Clear My Name: The "Mecha Madness" and "Endgame" storylines.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Bean doesn't really have lucid moments. You just find a way to make his madness work for you.
  • Colon Cancer: The "Tales of the Freedom Fighters" stories got a bit out of hand in this respect—consider the verging-on-self-parody title "Tales of the Freedom Fighters Presents: Geoffrey St. John: On His Majesty's Secret Service Part 4: The Mission."
  • The Comically Serious: Shadow is occasionally used to this effect, particularly when paired off with characters like Marine or Cream.
  • Compulsory School Age: Inverted. After her Plot-Relevant Age-Up, Amy still has to go to school with Tails and the other children, because despite having a teenager's body, they know what age she really is.
  • Continuity Cameo: Bean and Bark got a few of these before showing up as actual characters later on. Their earlier appearances are impossible to reconcile with their current role, though.
    • Patrick Spaziante would often do this with Astal, a Sega Saturn video game character he was apparently very fond of.
  • Continuity Drift: To the point that any attempt to bring more than a minor element into the games is received poorly.
  • Continuity Snarl: Trying to fit Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 perfectly into continuity caused problems. Made worse by the fact that the writers didn't have complete information about the games when they started writing the arcs...
  • Cosmic Retcon: Happens in the stories set in the Mobius: X Years Later reality - Sonic goes back in time to fix damage to the timeline that threatens to destroy reality. Unfortunately, this creates an Alternate Timeline where instead of being a Utopia ruled by King Sonic, Mobius is a totalitarian state ruled by King Shadow. Fortunately, Sonic and many of his friends remember how things are supposed to be and manage to overthrow Shadow.
    • Shades of this appear in a few of the Silver stories as well. Apparently, every time Silver goes back in time, some changes are made to the timeline. Unfortunately, none of these changes undo the Bad Future he lives in.
    • Probably the in-world cause of the Genesis arc. It may also have something to do with the coincident Sonic Generations game or just general nostalgia. The fact that the Sonic Universe side-series is just carrying on like absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened means that this is probably only a temporary retcon.
      • It was temporary. As of 229, Super Sonic undid the damage with Chaos Control.
      • It DID, however, make roboticization possible again.
      • That hasn't been confirmed yet. It had no effect on Sonic, Snively, or Eggman despite the roboticizer being unleashed on the entire Death Egg when the beam was inverted so it wouldn't be used on the rest of the planet. Sally is the only one confirmed to be susceptible. This probably has to do with the fact that she was killed and resurrected (again) over the course of five issues or so.
  • Crash Into Hello: Sonic and Mina do it at one point, although they already knew each other by then.
  • Creative Differences: Penders vs. Bollers got so bad, it ended with them both leaving the comic simultaneously. Which is why we have Flynn... whose works Penders steadfastly neglects to read, but swears to chuck in the Canon Discontinuity bin if he's ever re-hired.
  • Creepy Doll/Demonic Dummy: "Project Deadly Cudddles". Yes, it took a while, but it seems that Tails Doll is finally going to force some sunshine on this comic.
  • Criminal Amnesiac: Sonic in issue #28.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Eggman's battle suit in issues #175-7 was specifically designed to outmatch Sonic, which it proceeded to do marvelously. Which meant that when the rest of the Freedom Fighters got to take it on, it went down in a matter of panels.
  • Crossover: One with the Image Comics superheroes, another with Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
  • Culture Clash: Overlanders versus Mobians and Echidnas versus Dingoes.
    • Hell, Echidnas versus Echidnas, too.
  • Curse Cut Short: A particularly infamous example in issue #165:

Julie-Su: "Let me go, you b--"
Rouge: "Bat. Remember it."

    • Not to mention the innumerable "What the--?"s and "What in--?"s.
  • Cute Bruiser: Amy, full stop.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Eggman has shades of this now, since his "reasoning back to sanity" moment. He knows to retreat if he isn't winning, leave when he already has killed Antoine and knows full well how PISSED that would make Sonic. However, it doesn't help him that he is quite literally Surrounded by Idiots who can't realize that he knows what he's doing.
  • Dark Action Girl: Fiona, Princess Alicia, Lien-Da, Buns, Rosy the Rascal, and Julie-Su back when she was a Dark Legionnaire.
    • Conquering Storm looks to be one in the near future.
  • Darkest Hour: The series has had a few over the years, the climax of "EndGame", the destruction of Knothole, and the Iron Dominion occupation of New Mobotropolis being the most prominent. And now, following the events of "Genesis", it appears to be heading into another one—see It Got Worse below.
  • Dark Furred Redhead: Sally, Prince Elias and Queen Alicia.
  • Dating Catwoman: Rouge is trying to invoke this trope with Knuckles, much to Julie-Su's annoyance.
    • Also, one canceled story idea was for NICOLE to have a relationship like this with A.D.A.M., though his apparent death has obviously made this impossible.
  • A Day in the Limelight: This seems to be the point of Sonic Universe.
  • Days of Future Past: See Feudal Future.
  • Deadly Dodging: How Sonic wins the first fight we see him in.
  • Death by Childbirth: Snively's mother. There's a lot of speculation that his father hated him for it. Could explain a lot.
  • Death From Above: How Eggman ultimately destroyed Knothole.
  • Demoted to Extra: The Substitute Freedom Fighters. One eventually becomes so bitter about it, he runs for office just so he can make a difference and vent his frustrations. Two other members of the Substitute Freedom Fighters are on the council as well.
  • Deus Ex Machina: Lampshaded in an issue when they need something to free NICOLE from her Mind Control. Their choice falls on the Particle-to-Light Organizer and Transporter Device. Don't get it? PLOT device.
  • Devil in Plain Sight: Mammoth Mogul's current status. What this means for his future status as Silver's mentor is currently unknown.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Omega in SU#4.

Omega: "I enjoy Plan B!"

  • Dirty Coward: No real shocker that Snively is one of these.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: The Xorda. It's not a good idea to piss them off. Or be at all genetically related to anyone who may have pissed them off several millenia ago.
  • Doesn't Like Guns: Ostensibly, the Kingdom of Acorn has had a strict "No guns" policy ever since a previous war was started because two kids were playing with a gun. In practice, there has been some Depending on the Writer variation on this—Bunnie, for example, wielded guns for some time, although she never used them. Rotor's stance on the matter has been inconsistent even in the hands of the same writer, though explanations have been given since for this apparent contradiction. Julie-Su also freely uses a gun, but she's technically not a citizen of Acorn in the first place.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: The animosity between the Dingoes and the Echidnas is almost an exact analogy for the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Who plays who is just as much up to interpretation.
  • Doom Magnet: Nate Morgan, arguably.
  • The Dragon: Snively served as this to both Robotnik and later Eggman. For that matter, Lien-Da and the other Dark Egg Legion Grandmasters could be considered Co-Dragons as well, since they're all equally ranked and report directly to Eggman.
    • And the Bride of Conquering Storm could be said to have acted as this to the Iron Queen; she accompanied the Queen to the Eggman Empire when she assumed control of it from the insane Eggman, and was later sent back to the Dragon Kingdom to enforce the Iron Dominion's control over the region.
    • Ixis Nagus was this to Mogul for a time, and has one of his own in Geoffrey.
    • Following the events of "Genesis", Eggman gained a new chief enforcer in Mecha Sally.
  • Dragon Ascendant: After the Iron Queen was dethroned, Conquering Storm took over as Eggman's chief enforcer in the Dragon Kingdom. And Snively has briefly been in this position twice - first, when the original Robotnik was killed, and later when he ruled alongside the Iron Queen after Eggman's breakdown. Both times, however, Eggman eventually showed up to put him back in his place.
  • Dragon Lady: The Iron Queen. Although technically, she's not native to that region.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: After Robotnik was apparently defeated for good (the first such time) and Knothole Village converted into a bustling metropolis for countless freed Mobians and Robians, the teenage heroes were forced to go back to school. This being an American series, they were kind of bitter about it, since it was about as rewarding as slamming your head in a door while eating raw cockroaches.
  • Earthquakes Cause Fissures: One of the early comics had Robotnik evacuate Robotropolis because he discovered a massive earthquake was about to hit; when it did, it tore the city a new one.
    • The effects of Eggman's tampering with reality during Genesis caused earthquakes that got progressively worse, to the point that they obliterated an entire city-sized factory complex.
  • Easy Amnesia: At least once.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: Knothole in its original form was sometimes portrayed as one.
  • Embarrassing Middle Name: Sonic's is Maurice. It was implied that his first name was even more embarrassing, and Ken Penders revealed it as Oligive on his personal messageboard, but it's not considered canon.
  • The Empire: The Eggman Empire, to be precise.
  • Enemy Mine: Happens with such frequency that Sonic's begun to lampshade it. The heroes have, at various junctures, teamed up with Robotnik, Snively, their "Suppression Squad" alter-egoes, the Destructix, the Dark Legion, and even Finitevus. They usually get backstabbed, and Sonic's started to lampshade that, too.
    • By and far, the biggest of these situations was when the entire planet united to fight off the Xorda invasion. And naturally, as soon as the Xorda were fought off (and Sonic was sent into space), Eggman stabbed his allies in the back.
    • We have a non-Freedom Fighter example in the Babylon Rogues teaming up with their rivals/former comrades the Battle Bird Armada to regain the Babylon Gardens—which, ironically, puts them in opposition to the Freedom Fighters, since the Gardens are apparently under New Mobotropolis.
  • Engineered Heroics: At one point Sonic sets up a plan to help Antoine impress his father by dressing up as his own Evil Twin and having Antoine defeat him. Then the real Evil Sonic showed up and Antoine knocked him out without realizing it wasn't Sonic in disguise. When he realized he'd actually decked an actual bad guy and won, he fainted.
    • Which, incidentally, says a lot about just how pathetic Evil Sonic was prior to turning into Scourge.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses
  • Evil Albino: Dr. Finitevus, although this is technically an acquired attribute.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Finitevus seemed honestly surprised both that Knuckles friends were willing to die for him, and also that Knuckles would refuse to work with him next time they met, after Finitevus' actions resulted in the death of Knuckles' father.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Fiona's is a vast improvement, and capitalizes on Evil Is Sexy.
  • Eviler Than Thou: Mammoth Mogul gives Dimitri-as-Enerjak the treatment in Knuckles #9, as he Depowers him.

If there are any lessons to be learned, it's one you so obviously forgot! As I begin to absorb the incalculable power you possess, consider this: there is always someone else who is smarter, stronger, and even more ruthless than you.

    • Notably, Dimitri's later characterization would push him further and further towards Anti-Villain status.
    • Teaming up with the villain du jour and winding up on the losing end of this was also anti-Sonic's second most common gimmick (the most common, of course, being the instigator of Clear My Name plots), although that changed after he did.
  • Evil Twin: Everyone from Anti-Mobius. But special mention has to be given to Anti-Sonic, who used the Master Emerald to turn himself green, renamed himself Scourge the Hedgehog, and has become a recurring villain.
    • Averted with Anti-Knuckles, who's a good guy, just more mellow and pacifistic than Knuckles.[1] That doesn't stop him from fighting when he thinks he has to, though.
    • Finitevus is also something of an evil twin to Knuckles. An accident transformed him into a negative image of Knuckles, and he uses the exact opposite methods that Knuckles does; while Knuckles favors direct action, Finitevus uses his powers over dark magic and subterfuge. And while Knuckles is a Guardian, biologically engineered and trained from birth to be an ultimate protector, Finitevus wants to BLOW IT ALL UP!
  • Executive Meddling: Part of the reason why previous head writer Ken Penders left, and part of the reason behind some of the fan frustration. Ever wonder why new writer Ian Flynn doesn't get Sonic and Sally back together? This is why.
    • Sega's put in a number of mandates such as: Sonic can never lose, he can't cry,[2] he can't have a steady girlfriend.[3] Weirdest of all is that a number of the game characters have parents in the comics, but the comic is very rarely allowed to have those characters addressed as such, using something like "My m-"
  • Explosive Leash: When the Dark Legion is stripped of their cybernetics, Lien-Da cuts a deal with Eggman where they will serve him if he restores them; to ensure the loyalty of his new "Dark Egg Legion", Eggman plants bombs on them.
    • When the Iron Queen sets off Lien-Da's bomb, Eggman repairs her, and plants another bomb.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Several characters, including Dr. Quack, Amadeus Prower (Tails' father), and Patch (aka the anti-Antoine).
  • Face Heel Turn: Sleuth Dog and Fiona Fox.
    • Later, Geoffrey St. John—though it turns out Geoffrey didn't actually switch sides but had been working for Naugus since before he was introduced.
  • Fake Defector: Dimitri, when he joins Robotnik. "You make it sound like I'm purposefully weakening the greatest evil this world has ever known from within."
    • Duck "Bill" Platypus of the Downunda Freedom Fighters—after his people willingly joined with Eggman, he did as well in order to make sure they didn't suffer too much under his rule, while still being loyal to his team.
  • Fantastic Racism: The Overlanders and Mobians are usually pretty antagonistic to each other due to a long history of conflict between them. Attitudes have softened, however, as the comic has gone on, and the two have fought together more and more against their common enemies.
    • Also the Dingoes and the Echidnas, who are constantly at one another's throats.
      • Not based on race, but the same basic idea is the reason why the Dark Legion broke off from the rest of Echidna society. Their love of technology led to them being persecuted and oppressed by the government.
    • Normal Mobians had a significant amount of dislike for the roboticized Robians. This became a moot point when the Robians were deroboticized.
    • The members of the Battle Bird Armada are a mild example of this. They feel that since they can fly naturally, only they have the right to be in the sky, and everyone else should stay on the ground. One member, Speedy, seems to particularly hate Tails, due to his ability to fly naturally despite not being a bird.

Speedy: That's right, freak. Crawl. Crawl on the ground where you belong.

  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The entire planet of Mobius.
  • Fantasy Kitchen Sink
  • Fat Bastard: Three guesses.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Finitevus is one of the most urbane Omnicidal Maniacs you're ever likely to meet. All the better to contrast with Knuckles, of course.
  • The Federation: United Federation, a federal constitutional republic which is an ally of the Republic of Acorn and a mayor player in the Second Robotnik War, ever since the Freedom Fighters saved Station Square, the capital city, from Chaos.
  • Feudal Future: But Prince Acorn has begun to give the populace more control of their government after an attempted coup, so at least it is progressing.
  • First-Name Basis
  • Five-Bad Band: Scourge's Suppression Squad.
  • Five-Man Band: Several, including the Freedom Fighters, the Chaotix, the Downunda Freedom Fighters, and King Acorn's Secret Service.
  • Flash Forward: The "X Years Later" storylines.
  • Footnote Fever: Almost every single time the comic references a previous event, there's a footnote helpfully telling you exactly what issue it took place in. In particularly referential issues, the phenomenon is lampshaded. Frequently.
  • Four-Fingered Hands: Rarely consistent, given its conflicting source material—the cartoon gives every Mobian four fingers, while the games give almost every one of their characters five. Right now, the number of fingers depends on the artist, with some giving every character five fingers, and others giving the Sega characters five and everybody else four. Similarly, earlier issues had established that the main difference between humanoid Overlanders such as Robotnik and proper Humans such as the characters seen in the Federation was the number of fingers: four and five, respectively. Thanks to artistic interpretation, this has since been quietly ignored.
  • Fourth Wall Mail Slot: Characters have occasionally answered fan mail "directly" through Sonic-Grams, the online blogs, and during a "novelty question month" on Ian Flynn's messageboard.
  • Freudian Excuse: Fiona's abandonment issues have definitely played a major role in shaping her pscyhe.
  • Funny Animal: Though they do retain some traits of their animal origins. Oddly enough, sea creatures remain the same.
  • Funny Schizophrenia: Bean. Take Daffy Duck, cross him with Deadpool (albeit a G-rated Deadpool) crank him Up to Eleven, and then multiply that times infinity. You just might get there.

Bean: That was awesome! How do your glutes feel?
Sonic: Shut. Up. Bean.

  • Furry Confusion: Muttski is a non-anthropomorphic dog: he walks on all fours, can't talk (until he gets a Translator Microbe, which only makes him a Talking Animal), and is treated as a pet... but Mobius also contains Funny Animal dogs (like Sleuth Dawg). It's established that Tasmanian Devils are "One of the few Mobian races that never fully evolved" and are treated like dogs in some respects, but Muttski doesn't appear to be one.
  • Fusion Dance: Gamma's "soul" enters Omega's mind, fusing their thoughts together and granting Omega the ability to feel proper emotion.
    • Also, we have Tikhaos.
    • And, sadly, Titan Tails.
    • This was Ixis Naugus' origin (combined with Biological Mashup) -- the last three remaining Ixis wizards (excluding Mogul) traveled to the sun in an attempt to harness the elemental power of fire, and in the process somehow fused together.
  • Future Badass: Somewhat averted with Silver. He's quite capable, but he's also a bit too inexperienced and naive, which leads to him making a few mistakes.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: The comic has a lot of these, most notably Rotor, Tails, and Uncle Chuck.
  • Gender Equals Breed: Seems to be the case in the "30 Years Later" storyline.
    • A notable exception is Jon, the son of Rob O'Hedge and Mari-An. Despite being male, he is an Echidna like his mom.
  • General Ripper: Depending on which side of the fence you're on, General Helmut von Stryker. His son Kage definitely qualifies.
  • Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: The Xorda take this to its logical conclusion by having a genetic engineering weapon that functions very much like a nuke. Said weapon also serves as the backstory for the planet.
  • Genre Savvy: Multiple instances, such as the Chaotix when they are in what appears to be an Enemy Mine situation with Dr. Finitevus. They considered that he was likely planning a trap and made an attempt to kill him the first chance they get, but he got the better of them in their fight. Oh, and the whole situation was a setup.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Sonic Universe 17. Bunnie and Antoine setting up a tent. (Bonus for being their honeymoon.)
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Feist, the 200-foot mystical panda who inhabits the special zone and intermittently talks in the third person. Even in this comic, he's treated as a BLAM.
    • He was a pretty interesting way to explain the creation of the Special Zone and the formation of the seven Chaos Emeralds, though.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser: Snively plays hockey with Sonic in issue #33.
  • A God Am I: Enerjak in all his forms.
    • Feist as well, thanks to the power of the Chaos Emeralds.
    • And Mammoth Mogul.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck: Lots of bowdlerized profanities.
    • Actually subverted with Antoine, who frequently says mon dieu.
    • Scourge the Hedgehog subverts this as well. It's implied that he actually does swear, but it's usually censored, since this IS a kid's comic.
  • Grand Finale: #47-50 were meant to finish the series.
  • Great Gazoo: Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal, at least in their first apperance...
  • Happily Married: Bunnie & Antoine, Bernie & Jules, Amadeus & Rosemary Prower, Elias & Meg, Max & Alicia.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Sonic's dad does an epic one towards Scourge in issue 192.
  • Hate Plague: One of the tools in Ixis Naugus' repertoire.
  • Heartbroken Badass: For a variable definition of "badass" (considering he and his team's absolutely dismal fight record), Lightning Lynx in SU#15.
  • Heel Face Turn: Dr. Robotnik at one point, believe it or not. It didn't last long.
    • Long-term baddie Dimitri switched sides after the Iron Dominion arc.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: Dark Legionnaire Lien-Da is usually shown wearing some sort of leather outfit. And wielding a whip.
  • Heroic BSOD: Sonic when he realizes that he literally drove Eggman insane thanks to Snively's Hannibal Lecture. However, the writers quickly push this under a rug. It counts, though, as Sonic did really feel terrible about what he did to Eggman.
    • Played for laughs with Shadow after Marine tells him she doesn't know as much as she led on about ship building. For several panels, Shadow's expression locks up in one of the most amusing reactions given from a character in the comic.
    • Nicole seems to be on the brink of one; what with almost the whole population of New Mobotropolis having turned against her, and Sally's sacrifice, she's barely able to function and is unable to face what few friends she has left.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: There have been a few over the years, with Tommy Turtle and Locke being the biggest examples.
    • And now Sally.
    • Time to add Antoine to the list (though he's still alive, albeit comatose).
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Omega. Even after gaining a "soul" from Gamma, Omega is still a bit too triggerhappy and willing to blow things up.
  • Hero of Another Story: Many over the course of the comic, ranging from the Arctic Freedom Fighters all the way to the G.U.N. special forces.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: NICOLE, following her brainwashing by the Iron Queen. And it hasn't been helped any by Mina's protests or Ixis Naugus' Hate Plague-fueled smear campaign.
  • Hollywood Cyborg: Bunnie, and her children in the "30 Years Later" storyline.
  • Hot-Blooded: Monkey Khan.
  • How Dare You Die on Me!: Sonic was thought to had been dead after an explosion of alien tech, but was really flung halfway across the universe. He returned a year later and continued his role as a hero. This, however, led to Sally breaking up with him.
  • Humans by Any Other Name: "Overlanders."
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: There has been some subtext in this direction, although there have been subversions and exceptions since nearly the beginning. The Mobians and the "Overlanders" were at war... over what turned out to be a misunderstanding, and there were bastards fighting on both sides of the conflict. Yet humans were portrayed as the more warlike and barbaric species even in flashbacks that predated the war. With the introduction of more Sympathetic POV humans such as Nate Morgan and Hope Kintobar, and the human cities from the games, their (our) image appears to have improved, and the comic seems reluctant to dip back into the old subtext.
    • Since the Sonic Adventure saga, humans have looked even better. Compared to the likes of the Xorda and Black Arms, humans are one of the least bastardly species that exist.
  • Hurricane of Puns: The earliest issues loved this one.

Enerjak (in response to "Energerm"): Are you quite finished?!
Sonic: Actually... Jumping-jak. Ener-tube. Flap-jak. Ener-state. Ener-jak-in-the-box. And come to think of it, "Enerjak" sounds like some kind of sports drink. Now I'm finished.

Sally: "What have I told you two about those bad puns?"

  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: Espio, in accordance with his redesign in Sonic Heroes. Now, made even stronger with the addition of the four houses of the Dragon Kingdom, which includes the bat ninja Yagyu Clan. Lightning Lynx is similarly revealed to be a member of one of the Ninja Clans.
    • There's also Uma Arachnis and her children.
  • Insufferable Genius: An early plot turned Tails into one temporarily, and his evil alter-ego Miles behaves that way full-time.
  • Intercontinuity Crossover
  • Interspecies Romance: Let's list them, shall we?
    • Geoffrey St. John/Hershey St. John (skunk/cat)
    • Antoine D'Coolette/Bunnie D'Coolette (coyote/rabbit cyborg)
    • King Max Acorn/Queen Alicia Acorn (squirrel/chipmunk)
    • Sonic's various canonical relationships:
      • With Princess Sally Acorn (hedgehog/squirrel-chipmunk hybrid) - lampshaded in a later issue:

Bean: Are you and the princess going to marry and have mutant hedge-squirrel babies?

      • With Mina (hedgehog/mongoose)
      • With Fiona (hedgehog/fox)
    • Thankfully subverted with the Iron King (Bull) and Iron Queen (Human), who are merely in a relationship of convenience in order to solidify their power base.
    • It should be noted that in the comic's world, all Mobians are part of a singular species (issues 124-125). The different "species" of animals seem to treated like races.
  • Irony: The Historical/geographical kind. The location of the capital city of a one world absolute monarchy? Texas. The home of the racist aggressors and oppressors? New England. The reaction of the Freedom Fighters' government to the people's demands for democratic reform? Crush the rebellion, and imprison the leader. Sally managed to eventually get a compromise.
  • It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": Bunnie's last name is actually pronounced "Rab-BOW", with a long O and a silent T.
    • Granted, everyone pronounces the T due to her robotic parts. Her uncle has apparently been getting similar treatment.
    • it is pronounced "Ra-BOT" in the cartoon, which vocalized it before the comic pronounced it.
      • That's not for dispute though. The comic book simply pointed out what her last name was prior to being roboticized. Yes, the characters in the comic pronounce it "Rab-BOT", but that couldn't have been her last name for her entire life, right? So they decided that her "REAL" last name was pronounced "Rab-BOW", which is spelled "Rabbot". Prior to this revelation most people would have assumed that Bunnie's last name prior to roboticization would have been "Rabbit". The point of this was most likely to avert the Species Surname trope.
  • It Got Worse: First off, we get Mina of all people, her new-found fear of Nicole in the wake of the Iron Dominion arc getting augmented by Ixis Naugus' powers, sparking off a mob mentality against the very AI defending New Mobotropolis. Then Naugus himself makes a power play for the crown, marching right up into the Council and demanding the crown. And getting it given to him, even as Sonic points out Obviously Evil he is, and has been. Then Eggman makes his return, hitting the world with his Genesis plan, nearly beating Sonic, and more importantly successfully roboticzing Sally. Then Naugus makes himself look like the hero, getting the people behind the evil wizard as the king. Then the Battle Bird Armada successfully blows a gigantic hole clean through New Mobotropolis, again nearly killing everyone. And to top it all off, once things start to settle down and it looks like Geoffery St. John will be brought to justice for his actions as a traitor... Naugus gets him pardoned as the unquestioned king. So in summation. Nicole traumatized, the people against Nicole and uniformly for Naugus as King, Naugus actually being the acknowledged king of the Kingdom of Acorn, Sally becoming Mecha Sally and a slave to Eggman, and New Mobotropolis has a gigantic hole in it. In the space of a single day.
    • And in #234, Antoine almost dies.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: For Sonic's sake, Mina took a bullet for Sally. She got better.
  • I Will Show You X: Provides the current page image. See Shut UP, Hannibal for context.
  • Jackass Genie: Appeared in a one-shot and behaved this way for no perceptively good reason besides having an attitude problem. At the end, he was put back in his bottle and thrown into the lake.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ash the Mongoose, as well as Antoine before his Character Development.
    • Sonic has had this characterization at times, too (though rarely has it been as bad as in Fleetway's Sonic the Comic). At one point, it got so bad that Tails, his best friend, physically assaulted him. He's wised up a little now, though he can still be a Jerkass at times.
    • Also, Geoffrey St. John, and Vector some of the time.
  • Kangaroo Court: Sonic was once put on trial by Knothole in a literal Kangaroo Court: two kangaroos were the judges. Other than that, however, it seemed like a fair trial, though the prosecutor seemed a little too interested in getting a guilty verdict.
  • Kick the Dog: In a word, Fiona.
    • Drago does this all the time as well (which is probably part of the reason nobody likes him).
  • Killed Off for Real: Robotnik Prime and Locke are the big ones.
    • Also, Tommy Turtle and Sir Connery.
    • And Locke was actually Killed Off for Real twice. It was an alternate timeline/future thing.
    • And before any of them, Tobor and Kragok.
    • Nate Morgan and Colin Kintobor.
  • Kill the Cutie: Princess Sally, over and over again.
  • Kissing Cousins: A distantly related version, when it's revealed that Julie-Su is descended from the evil side of Knuckles's family tree.
    • This is kind of stretching it, considering there's 18 generations between the parents of Edmund and Dmitri, and Knuckles.
  • Klingon Promotion: Lien-Da and her brother Kragok took over the Dark Legion by killing their father, and years later, Lien-Da left Dimitri for dead so that she could take over the Dark Egg Legion.
    • And the original Dr. Robotnik (before he became the Big Bad) became head of the Kingdom of Acorn's military by throwing the previous holder of the title into the Zone of Silence. And later, he started off his coup of the Kingdom by doing the same to the King.
  • Knight Templar: King Shadow from an alternate timeline.
    • And the Sand Blaster Freedom Fighters can be pretty fanatic in fighting Robotnik/Eggman. So much so that in their first appearance, they tried to strand Sonic and Tails in their city so that they would always be there to help them fight.
  • Know Your Vines: Sonic was picking flowers to bring to Sally, only for a random background character to wander by and inform him that he's making his girlfriend a bouquet out of poison sumac. Then he starts scratching madly, which makes him swell up until he can't move. This, unfortunately, coincides with Robotnik making Pseudo Sonic, a robotic duplicate meant to infiltrate Knothole and discredit Sonic.
  • La Résistance: The Freedom Fighters. Though post-Endgame (when Robotnik went from a dictator to an external threat) they've become more of a special forces unit reporting to the government of the Kingdom/Republic of Acorn.
    • Post-Genesis, they seem to be heading in this direction again in reaction to Naugus' coup.
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appear in the background of one panel in issue #10, remarking that they're in the wrong comic. (It should be noted that Archie Comics produced a comic book series based on the turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.)
    • Also, in issue #18, Sonic mistakes the badnik Bat Brain's silhouette for the Batsignal and thinks Batman is trying to steal his spotlight.
    • The main story (as well as the cover) of issue #8 takes this trope to extremes.
  • Legacy Character: Enerjak.
  • Lego Genetics: Sally Acorn is the most prominent example, being half squirrel and half chipmunk without any problems.
    • Actually, she's probably the most reasonable example, since squirrels and chipmunks are at least from the same family of rodents. I remember reading someone's theory that she's genetically closest to a ground squirrel. Makes about as much sense as anything else.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Way too many times to count. Even gets Lampshaded in issue 218.
  • The Load: Antoine was this before he started to pull his own weight.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: Referenced by name by Sonic when Eggman's base starts to self-destruct after Sonic defeats him in the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II comic adaptation in issue 3 of the Sonic Super Special Magazine.

Sonic: Whoops... looks like that was another one of those load-bearing bosses!

  • Loads and Loads of Characters: You have almost everyone from the videogames, everyone from Satam, all the original characters, all the original characters from Knuckles' series, and all the characters introduced to tie the videogames and comics together. And now, even Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts have shown up!
    • Haven't you seen the image at the top of the page yet?
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Knuckles' family is (or was) nigh-Machiavellian in this aspect, actively conspiring to keep him in the dark as much as possible "for his own good".
  • Long Runner: The comic prides itself on being the longest-running video game comic in human history, and the author's notes at the end of the 200th issue boasted that they're only 76 strips away from becoming the longest-running licensed comic book publication of the modern age.
  • A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away: Played straight for the majority of the comic, then the Xorda showed up and revealed that Mobius was Earth All Along, and that nearly all the characters are the descendants of mankind.
  • Losing Your Head: Due to sudden rapid aging, Dimitri had to have more and more of his body replaced with cybernetic implants. Now he is just a cyborg head in a floating fishbowl.
  • Lotus Eater Machine: Used at least once in an early issue.
  • Love At First Punch: Knuckles and Julie-Su, Rob O' and Mari-An. Played for Laughs with Omega and Blaze.
  • Love Triangle: Oh, sheesh... Sonic/Sally/Antoine, Sonic/Sally/Knuckles, Sonic/Sally/Geoffrey, Sonic/Sally/Khan, Sally/Sonic/Amy, Sally/Sonic/Mina, Sonic/Mina/Ash, Sonic/Fiona/Tails, Sonic/Fiona/Scourge, Knuckles/Julie-Su/Rouge... and possibly Locke/Lara-Le/Wynmacher. There may be more, but you get the idea.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: A variation occurs with Enerjak, who is Knuckles's distant ancestor. Then again, when the Dark Legion is revealed to be a bunch of echidnas (and led by one of Enerjak/Dimitri's descendants to boot). Then, yet again when Julie-Su finds out that she's the daughter of one of the Legion's Grandmasters, and Kragok and Lien-da's sister.
    • A more literal example occurs when it's confirmed that Remington is Kragok's son.
  • Machine Worship: The Dark Legion, a cyborg echidna sect which practically worshiped technology.
  • Mad Bomber: Bean the Dynamite Duck, and Bomb after being reprogrammed. Bomb is of literal note because he actually is a bomb. He transfers his programming to a fresh duplicate each time he explodes.
  • Mad Scientist: Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, Dr. Finitevus, Dimitri.
  • Magitek: Regina is a "technomage".
  • Manipulative Bastard: Finitevus.
    • Scourge seems to have gotten the hang of it, as half of his Universe arc is finding out the Destructix's secrets and getting them to work for him.
  • Mass "Oh Crap": The last few panels of issue 224 are the citizens of New Mobotropolis having one of these as they see the Death Egg Mk. 2 rise into the air.
  • Mecha-Mooks: SWATbots, Combots, Shadowbots, and later, the Egg Pawns.
  • Medium Awareness: A regular part of Michael Gallagher's scripts, particularly in the early days.
  • Meet Cute: Knuckles & Julie-Su, Rob & Mari-An.
  • Melee a Trois: Sonic Universe issues 21-24 are a four-way fight over a Sol Emerald.
    • And issues 162-164 temporarily involved a three-way fight between the Freedom Fighters, Mogul and the Destructix, and Naugus and the Arachne.
  • Mirror Universe: Moebius (formerly named Anti-Mobius).
    • Bizarro Universe: It's not just good and evil switched, although that's how the idea started. Floating Island floats in the ocean instead of in the sky, Scourge's one billionth ring drove Amy insane when it granted her wish, and Anarchy Beryl (Anti-Chaos Emeralds) drain energy from people when they use it instead of boosting their energy.
  • The Mole: The Guardian Tobor, who is really the Legionnaire Moritori Rex, who took advantage of an accident to replace the real Tobor so he could spy on the Brotherhood of Guardians.
    • Geoffrey has apparently been serving Ixis Naugus since before he was introduced.
  • Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Robotnik. Dr. Finitevus.
  • Morally-Ambiguous Ducktorate: Averted. Dr. Quack is on the up-and-up.
  • Mr. Exposition: Being a comic this is often required, though there are a lot of backstory references and Mythology Gag one liners frequently used, with varying ranges of clunkiness. Nate Morgan was the most blatant about it.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The four-armed Bem aliens.
  • The Multiverse: There are a nigh-infinite amount of parallel universes reachable through the cosmic interstate, some very similar and others nearly completely reversed from the "Prime" Zone. Most of them have character counterparts as well.
  • My Greatest Failure: Uncle Chuck feels terrible for creating the Roboticizer that led to Robotnik forming his army.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Espio... sort of.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: Marine gets this pretty hard from Shadow in Sonic Universe #1.
  • Mythology Gag: Sonic and Sally's future offspring are called Sonia and Manik, the names of Sonic's siblings in Sonic Underground.
  • Necessarily Evil: Finitevus. Sort of. He doesn't show regret for cruelly lying and manipulating people—just the opposite, really—but he's never seen doing it for sadistic purposes alone.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Seneca-9009's Dark and Troubled Past. She invented a de-roboticizer to help the metallic aliens of Biotex. She learned too late that the Biotexans evolved their metallic bodies as a defense against deadly microbes. Oops...
    • And in issue 225, Eggman tells Sally that if she and the other Freedom Fighters had finished him off any of the times they'd had the chance, they could have prevented him from rebuilding the Death Egg in a more powerful form.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: The Iron Queen. Even in print, it manages to be grating.
  • No Biochemical Barriers: The Mobius: 25 Years Later series features Sally (chipmunk/squirrel) and Sonic's (hedgehog) kids, among other examples.
  • No Fourth Wall: The "Off Panel", brief comics in some issues that have the characters frequently doing this and often interacting with the writers/editors of the comic. Also noticeable in the comic's early era, when Michael Gallagher was the main writer.
  • No MacGuffin, No Winner: In issues 217 and 218, Sonic and Bunnie find themselves stuck in between a chapter of the Dark Egg Legion and the Sand Blasters, who are fighting over an oil refinery. Unable to decide whether to help the Legion chapter (who, despite working for Eggman, are led by Bunnie's beloved uncle) and the Sand Blasters (who, despite being Freedom Fighters, are fanatic Jerk Asses), they ultimately decide to simply destroy the refinery, keeping anyone from having it.
  • No Ontological Inertia: Subverted hard after defeating Eggman in issue 200. The citizens of New Mobotropolis take to celebrating as soon as the news is heard. The only problem is that all of Eggman's assets were immediately siezed by the Iron Queen, who wastes no time at all in going to New Mobotropolis and completely cumbstomping the entire city. Khan calls them out on this.
  • No Social Skills: Knuckles turned out this way due to the Guardian tradition of Parental Abandonment.
  • Noodle People: Several; almost everyone is drawn with noodle limbs, but Ash Mongoose is particuarly Egregious in this regard.
  • Not So Different: The Brotherhood is pretty damn hypocritical in their combating the Dark Legion, using the very technology that they convinced echidna society to ban and thereby started the conflict in the first place. The Dark Legion comes close to calling them out on this on several occasions.
  • Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Partially subverted in the comic itself; played straight with the Kingdom of Acorn.
  • Oddly Small Organization: The Freedom Fighters, though it's temporarily subverted at different points in the series. This later comes back to bite the main characters in the tail when three of the disenfranchised former members of the Substitute Freedom Fighters become leaders in the government.
  • Off-Model: It was so bad that there is a blog dedicated to these moments. Fortunately, it's gotten a lot better about it in its later years, but it still pops up every now and then.
  • Offhand Backhand: Bunnie to Naugus in #173.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Dr. Finitevus believes that the world is hopelessly corrupt and must be "cleansed with emerald fire." He is utterly convinced of the righteousness of his position and quite willing to lay down his own life to achieve his aims.
  • One Steve Limit: Averted with Ray the Manta Ray (leader of the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters) and Ray the Flying Squirrel (member of the Chaotix).
  • One World Order: The Kingdom of Acorn before the events of the comics; Dr. Robotnik's empire after his coup.
    • Of course, now it's pretty much broken up, and the only vast power base is the Iron Queen's control of Robotnik's city and the Dragon Kingdom. Sonic makes a particular note of the fact that Eggman's lost control of his own empire at one point.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: A few:
    • Snively, who was rather shocked when Robotnik actually called him by his given name (Colin). What's weird is that he apparently prefers the nickname... probably because Colin is also his father's name, and there was apparently some resentment there.
    • Sonic, technically. But he did get his name legally changed.
    • Tails, for Miles.
    • Earlier in the series, Rotor as Boomer.
    • Technically, all the Moebius residents except for Miles.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Eggman to Sonic.
  • Orwellian Retcon: When some old stories were reprinted in Sonic Firsts, Princess Sally was recolored to match her modern design and all references to "Boomer" were changed to "Rotor".
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Dulcy the Dragon and her race.
  • Parental Abandonment: Almost every regular character, until Robotnik Prime's death.
    • Of particular note is Knuckles, who was left in a wilderness by his father at a young age, and was then spied on by him for a while. This happened to every Guardian before him, but Locke had a particularly hard time with it, which eventually tore their family apart and caused his wife to leave him.
  • Parental Neglect: Anti-Jules, to the point that it's implied that Scourge killed him out of resentment.
    • Colin Sr., apparently. It's probably why his son turned into The Starscream.
  • Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Amy does this for the Sonic Adventure adaptation, though they still generally treat her as her actual age when that matters.
  • Plot Tumor: Coupled with Knuckles turning into a Canon Sue, as described above. Knuckles goes from living in a wilderness, believing himself to be the last of his kind, to living in a city full of other echidnas and having a family tree that becomes more and more convoluted as time goes on. Eventually, the echidnas end up becoming the most important race in the comic. Then, the Eggman Empire (and Ian Flynn) came along... Needless to say, there aren't as many echidnas now.
  • Product Placement: Stories that really serve no purpose other than to serve as a five-page advertisement for whatever the newest Sonic game is.
  • Projected Man: How NICOLE now interacts with the rest of the cast, in a lyn(u)x form.
  • Psycho for Hire: Bean is the Comedic Sociopathy version of this.
    • Flying Frog is pretty nuts too.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Eggman has become this after Sonic #200.
    • He's gotten better, as of #210.
  • The Psycho Rangers: The Suppression Squad, who are the Freedom Fighters' Evil Twins from an alternate dimension.
  • Punny Name: A particularly cringeworthy example would be "Sleuth Dawggy-Dawg," who actually turned into a fairly regular Recurring Character they've mercifully taken to referring to only as "Sleuth Dawg".
  • Putting on the Reich: The Overlanders and the Dingoes on occasion.
    • And the Dark Legion from time to time.
  • Pyrrhic Villainy: In the Yet Another Christmas Carol plot.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Destructix, comprised of Predator Hawk, Sgt. Simian, Lightning Lynx, Flying Frog, Sleuth Dawggy-Dawg, and Drago Wolf. They haven't gotten much characterization over the years, and mostly show up when various Big Bads need some minions to throw at the heroes.
    • Though this is changing since Drago and Sleuth left.
    • The Badniks—the original Dr. Robotnik's swarm of little animal-themed Mecha-Mooks who served mostly as comic relief in the comic's early days. They'd been forgotten about for ages, but were reintroduced a couple of years ago.
    • As of Sonic Universe #37, Eggman has a new group of personal enforcers in the Metal Series robots including Mecha Sally.
  • The Real Remington Steele: Fiona, who was introduced as a Robotnik-created bot years before her real self appeared.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sonic to Eggman in issue #200. He regrets it when it contributes to Eggman's Villainous Breakdown.
    • In response to a particularly nasty one given from Eggman to Sonic in 175.
    • Sonic gives one to Scourge. This comes back to bite Sonic later as it inspires Scourge to conquer his home world. Scourge later gives a twistedly identical speech to Sonic.
  • Recursive Adaptation: The comic has already started to incorporate some plot elements from Sonic Chronicles, which had adapted much of its own material after the comic. Both are nigh-unrecognizable adaptations of SatAM.
  • Recap Episode: Issue 57.
  • Redemption Equals Death: This is the case for the original Metal Sonic, who sacrifices himself to save Sonic and Tails after seeing Sonic go through everything to save his best friend.
  • Reliable Traitor: Robotnik re-recruits Snively by out-and-out telling him that this is his role, but that he plans to be ready for the inevitable backstab.
    • Pretty much applies to all his immediate underlings now.
  • The Renfield: Snively was sometimes depicted as this in the earlier issues -- very much in contrast with his later characterization. Crabmeat, however, plays it straight.
  • La Résistance: The Freedom Fighters and the multiple affiliates that followed.
    • And the Rebel Underground, a group of freedom fighters who invoke this trope in imagery and name.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Trey Scales, or really almost anyone who tries to deal with Robotnik.
  • The Rival: Geoffrey St. John.
  • Robot War: Technically, usually, since this is Robotnik/Eggman's Weapon of Choice.
  • Romantic False Lead: Geoffrey St. John appears to have been crafted with this initial purpose in mind, although he did fulfill a function in the plot outside of the love triangle. Mina was a more blatant example.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: The House of Acorn.
    • And the Battle Kukkus.
  • Scenery Gorn: several times during the comics' run; Silver's future, Enerjak's destruction of New Megaopolis, and Eggman's attack on Knothole & New Mobotropolis are just a few examples.
    • Robotropolis wasn't exactly a pleasant sight to behold either.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Dark Presence.
    • Once the Destructix starts to fall apart, Sleuth hands control to Fiona and just walks away.
  • Sdrawkcab Name: Julian Kintobor changes his name to Dr. Ivo Robotnik.
  • Seldom-Seen Species: Mina and Ash Mongoose. And of course, the countless echidnas. And the lynx.
  • Self-Made Orphan: Implied with Scourge. Also Lien-Da.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Mogul.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Silver's mission is to undo the Bad Future he's from.
  • Shamed by a Mob: Issue #74 involves this when the freedom fighters discover Robotnik running an outer space sweatshop after they all thought he was dead.
  • Ship Sinking: Sonic and Fiona, and Tails and Fiona, via the comics and Word of God.
    • Flynn has also gone on record to say that the early implied romance between Tails and Barby Koala (of the Downunda Freedom Fighters) is "completely one-sided and kind of creepy", and that as long as he's on the comic it's not going to happen.
  • Shout-Out: Tons, for just about every fiction franchise on Earth. Most of these can be found in a group shot of AU Tails.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: In issue #74, after the freedom fighters find Robotnik on the walkway of some outer space facility, (note that up until that point they thought he was dead), there are at least two varieties (or maybe three) of Shut UP, Hannibal in a row:

Sonic: You're toast if you don't tell me what happened to my family and the other roboticized Mobians, Ro"butt"nik!
Robotnik: Come now, hedgehog. Can't you at least take a moment to welcome me back from the dead? Didn't your parents teach you better manners?
Sonic: Why, you lousy...
Sonic runs at Robotnik, but Robotnik smacks him aside.
Bunnie: Ah'll show you manners!

Bunnie then punches Robotnik in the face, and Sonic and Tails stumble upon Robotnik's sweatshop.

Tails: Sonic, look!

Sonic: I see it, Tails! ALL of the missing robians being forced to work in this suped-up outer-space sweat-shop!

Robotnik: Forced? Quite the contrary, Sonic. I've merely RESTORED their LACK of free will. They have absolutely no say in the matter. How can you say that I've done something wrong? Why, look at all the new jobs I've created!

Sonic: Create this!

(Sonic then runs up at Robotnik and knocks him off the walkway.)

  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Antoine and Bunnie really border this at times, half their panel time they seem to be holding hands or making gooey eyes at each other. The funny accents (one of which is French) only elevate it at times.
  • Sins of Our Fathers: The Xorda take this to almost unfathomable extremes. At one point they dispatched a peaceful ambassador to Earth who was promptly dissected. The Xorda retaliated by gene bombing the entire planet. Several thousand years later, life had come back to the planet, but since it all still had genetic traces of the humans who had committed the offense, the Xorda were intent on coming back and wiping it all out for good this time.
  • Slap Slap Kiss/Kiss Kiss Slap: For a while, it reached ridiculous levels with Sonic and Sally. It's calmed down since.
  • Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness: The comic started off as something of a pastiche of the very silly Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and the mostly-serious Saturday-morning Sonic the Hedgehog. In the beginning, it was more like "AoStH with the SatAM characters", but Cerebus Syndrome pushed it further and further towards SatAM's darker style. Even so, while the comic has never really regained the level of goofiness present in the earliest issues, there has been a fair amount of fluctuation all over the scale depending on the era and the writer. Where it should fall, optimally, is one of the many things the fanbase can never agree on.
  • Species Surname: Sometimes (Maurice "Sonic" Hedgehog), sometimes not (Amy Rose).
  • The Squadette: Julie-Su of the Chaotix.
  • Spin-Off: Knuckles's comic. Also the new Sonic Universe comic.
  • The Starscream: Snively. Actually, he once successfully killed Robotnik. The Eggman in the series now is actually from a parallel dimension.
    • There's also Tails's Evil Twin from Moebius, Miles, who convinced the rest of the Suppression Squad to turn on Scourge, then set himself up as the new leader.
  • Start of Darkness: Regina the Iron Queen shows us hers in "A Lonely Girl's Story".
  • Status Quo Is God: Played completely straight at first, with the Freedom Fighters winning little battles but never coming closer to winning the war, then End Game came along...
    • Being a Long Runner, the status quo has been shaken up rather often since, but you can basically bank on it eventually returning to Sonic and his Freedom Fighters vs. Robotnik and his empire.
    • In #197, Zonic even says, "Sonic-Prime has to fight a Robotnik" in response to Sonic telling him the current Eggman was the Zone Cop's problem.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: Omega prefers this to happen in every mission he's taken part in so far. So far, he is pleased.
  • Super Dickery: Issues #28, #203, and #204
  • Super Mode: Among others, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Scourge can invoke this with enough MacGuffins.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Robo-Robotnik/Dr. Eggman, for, well, himself. Continuity treats them as the same character, more or less.
  • Talkative Loon: Bean.
  • Talking Animal: Muttski, once he gets his translator.
  • Tangled Family Tree: Knuckles's ancestors, the Brotherhood of Guardians, and the leaders of the Dark Legion. It eventually is revealed to include Julie-Su and Remington. Finitevus eventually lampshades this.
  • Tennis Boss: Silver eventually realizes that the only way to stop a super-powered Enerjak is to reflect his own chaos energy back at him.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: Orbot and Cubot seem to be heading in this direction, as of their introduction.
  • Theme Naming: The Brotherhood of Guardians.
  • Third Person Person: Feist.
  • Tickle Torture: In #58.
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Four-foot tall Snively dating the statuesque Iron Queen.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Team Dark. Shadow's mellowed out, but Rouge is a thief who's in it for herself, and Omega is a Sociopathic Hero. And if Abraham Tower has his back story from the games...
  • Took a Level in Badass: Antoine takes several, Evil Sonic when he becomes Scourge, and Dr. Eggman big time after he overcomes his Villainous Breakdown purely with logic, snaps out of his insanity, and puts himself back in the game arguably more dangerous than ever. His return to sanity is even punctuated by quite possibly the most dark and ominous panel Eggman has ever appeared in.
    • Especially obvious in issue 225 where he toys with Sonic to stall for time, then nonchalantly injuring/possibly killing Sally. Then he fires his superweapon while holding a glass of wine.
    • In Scourge's case, it also included gaining several levels in popularity - the fans like him a lot better when he's not just a cliched Evil Twin.
  • Totally Radical: The series still bills itself as "The World's Most Way Past Cool Comic!" Delicious early '90s camp.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Chili-dogs for Sonic.
  • Trickster Mentor: Archimedes the Fire Ant filled this role for Knuckles, by way of a clever scheme that initially made Knuckles and the readers believe he was being set up as a villain.
  • Ungrateful Bastards: The Nerbs go straight from this to We Want Our Jerk Back.
  • Unholy Matrimony: Scourge and Fiona. Also the Iron King and Queen, who (thankfully, for obvious reasons) are just in a marriage of political convenance. And the Queen also had a thing on the side with Snively.
    • And if there was any doubt that Scourge and Fiona truly cared about each other, take this into account: after Scourge was arrested by the Zone Cops, Fiona tracked down the Destructix, got them to work for her, and then intentionally got arrested, all so that she could break him out.
  • The Unpronounceable: Dr. Fukurokov.

Fukurokov: One day the world will tremble at the name of Dr. Fukurokov!
Antonie: Maybe, but zey won't be able to pronounce it.

  • Unstoppable Rage: Many characters go through this for some reason or another.
    • Sonic, most notably, in #50 and #175. You do NOT mess with his friends, family, or home.
    • Hershey in #50, after learning that Drago used her in a murder scheme.
    • Tails, to a lesser extent in #178, seeing his hedgehog friend act like a Jerkass at the time.
  • Unwilling Roboticisation: It's difficult to be as literal with this trope as this continuity and the cartoon were with it. It was the whole reason for the story from the very start, and would remain a constant threat for nearly 15 years of continuity until an alien race eliminated the ability to do this.
    • Only one "Robian" remains: Sonic's dad. See Blessed with Suck.
      • Thanks to the events of the Genesis arc, Roboticisation is back, and in issue 230, Sally becomes its first victim.
        • This hasn't been confirmed. Since Sally seemingly died and was resurrected as the result of Genesis, it may be that Sally is the only one susceptible to it. She redirected the beam to the Death Egg, and while she was roboticized, Sonic, Snively, and Eggman were not.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: King Shadow in the X Years Later timeline.
  • Vague Age: The planet itself, believe it or not, with the time between the Xorda attack on Earth and the current strips ranging from anywhere between 3,200 years to 15,000 years.
  • Verb This: See Shut UP, Hannibal.
  • Viewers are Morons: There is a pronounced tendency, especially in the earlier years, for characters to describe what they're doing or what's happening to them, in real time. Which you can also see happening in the artwork.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Dr. Eggman
    • Also Scourge after he's betrayed by everyone. He expresses a desire to destroy two whole worlds, one of which is his home, just out of annoyance.
  • Villainous BSOD: Scourge didn't take being arrested by the Zone Cops too well - he lost all his drive, and let himself get pushed around by the guards and other prisoners, not even protesting his new nickname "Snot". Fortunately (for fans of his character, anyway), the arrival of Fiona and the Destructix causes him to regain his old spark.
  • Villain Episode: The "Lockdown" arc in Sonic Universe is all about Scourge, Fiona, and the Destructix trying to bust out of the Zone Cops' prison.
    • Issues 37-40 seem to be focused on Eggman dealing with Snively's latest betrayal.
  • Villain Team-Up: Happens almost as frequently as the Enemy Mine situations, given the number of villainous factions involved in the series. Almost always ends with them betraying each other.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Ixis Naugus, currently, due to playing to the public's distrust of NICOLE, and his defense of New Mobotropolis during the Death Egg and Battle Bird Armada attacks.
  • Visionary Villain: Enerjak.
  • The Voiceless: Bark the Polar Bear, Bean's partner in crime, never speaks.
  • We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill: When intelligent alien life first found Earth, they dispatched a peaceful ambassador to discuss beneficial trade. Said ambassador was promptly dissected.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Knuckles and Locke's relationship has elements of this. Also, Antoine invokes this trope when he tries to earn his father's appreciation after the latter starts acting more impressed with Sonic.
    • Snively's lack of appreciation by his father is hinted to be part of the reason for him being evil. Interestingly enough, his father, Robotnik's brother, was also favored over his brother. Hmmm.
    • And let's not get started on King Max's relationship with his kids.
    • A.D.A.M. towards Robotnik.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Knuckles as Enerjak. The dingoes also apply, depending on how you look at it.
    • Finitevus considers himself one. Though he isn't.
    • Let's not forget Lien-Da.
    • Geoffrey is one as well—he helped Naugus become king because he honestly believes it's for the Republic's own good.
  • Wham! Episode: Things generally shake up every twenty-fifth issue.
    • Issue 25: Not much of a Wham, unless you count introducing Amy and Metal Sonic
    • Issue 50: The conclusion of the "EndGame" arc and the death of the original Robotnik.
    • Issue 75: Robo-Robotnik reveals himself to the Freedom Fighters and is destroyed, only to come back in his Eggman form.
    • Issue 100: Eggman gains the ability to roboticize by touch and uses it on Nate Morgan; Kodos, Arachnis, Tobor and Kragok are all Killed Off for Real; and the Robians are freed from Eggman's control.
    • Issue 125: The conclusion of Xorda arc; Sonic is sent into space, which allows for the one-year Time Skip when he gets back to Mobius.
    • Issue 150: It's revealed to the readers that Sonic and Antonie have been replaced by their Evil Twins from Moebius.
    • Issue 175: The Destruction of Knothole.
    • Issue 200: Eggman's Villainous Breakdown.
    • Issue 225: The new Death Egg attacks New Mobotropolis, and Sally is gunned down by Eggman.
    • Wham Episodes not on the 25-issue mark include 160 (Anti-Sonic becomes Scourge), 172 (Fiona Fox reveals her Face Heel Turn), the entire "Enerjak Reborn" arc (180-184), and 219 ( Geoffrey pulls a Face Heel Turn).
    • Also offsetting the 25-issue mark are issue 230 (which follows up on the events of 225 as Sally survives... only to be roboticized.), and issue 234 (wherein Antoine is nearly Killed Off for Real).
  • Will They or Won't They?: Sonic and Sally did this for a long time. Then they started dating, broke up, and are doing it again.
    • Knuckles and Julie-Su had a fair bit of this when they first met, too. And Shadow and Rouge still do, though it's unlikely they ever will, given Shadow being an emotional cripple who can barely articulate his feelings other than arrogance and anger.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Both Dimitri and Knuckles were turned into the crazed god Enerjak by draining power from the Master Emerald.
  • Women Are Wiser: Most of the females, while still having their own shortcomings, are somewhat more level headed than their male comrades. Sally in particular, though having a few infamous moments of ill perception, is arguably the most "normal"-acting character in the comic (though both her and Bunnie had near equally wacky and blundering personas than Sonic and co in the earlier light-hearted issues).
  • World of Badass
  • Word of Gay: Ken Penders got around the CCA somehow by hinting at one of the characters in the "Mobius: X Years Later" storyline being gay... and somehow doing this while showing the life partner, threading the relationship into the text. Once fans started searching, it became obvious (and confirmed by Ken), that the hinted couple was Rotor and Cobar, the latter an echidna scientist from the Dark Legion.
  • Word of God: Current writer Ian Flynn has organized his own message board, where he and other creators interact with fans and answer their questions. His predecessor, Ken Penders, also kept up a message board while he was writing for the comic, which is still active and occasionally talks about the stories that he had planned for the series.
  • Worthy Opponent: Speedy comes to view Tails as one following their initial confrontation, as he goes from calling Tails "freak" to referring to him by name and insisting everyone else in the Armada do so as well. Hell, the next time they meet it almost seems to have reached Friendly Enemy status.
  • Wrench Wench: Hope Kintobor, in keeping with the family tradition, is quite the mechanical prodigy.
  • Year Inside, Hour Outside: The Twilight Zone (no, not that one), a pocket dimension where time passes at roughly a quarter of the speed of the main universe. The Dark Legion was imprisoned here for centuries before eventually escaping.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: How Rob O' the Hedge often talks. His cousin, Amy, who comes from the same region, doesn't do this.
  • Yet Another Christmas Carol: An early, non-canon story.
  • You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious: Snively begins to suspect that Eggman is slipping when he calls him by his real name.
  • You Have Failed Me...: The first Robotnik, often. Eggman has also shown aspects of this from time to time.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: King Shadow to Lien-Da.
  • Zen Survivor: General von Styker, after his son ousts him from power.
  1. ↑ and speaks with an Irish accent, for some reason
  2. ↑ he can get teary-eyed, but not actually cry
  3. ↑ dating is allowed it seems
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