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atlair890456 · 9 days ago

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The mystery of that random magenta-haired Sonic woman: solved?

For almost three years now, there's been a little mystery in the Sonic franchise: who the hell is this lady?

Well, it seems like fans have collectively pieced together the answer. And it's more interesting than I expected.

For those who don't keep up with Sonic lore minutia like I do, this is a screenshot from the very first episode of TailsTube, released on YouTube back in March 2022. When Sonic and Tails were explaining the basics of their Earth and the fact that humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist, Tails showed a slide of some human NPCs from Sonic Unleashed. But the slide also included this never-before-seen character design, drawn in a conspicuously different, more anime-influenced art style from the Pixar-esque Unleashed characters. So... where's she from?

At the time, it was assumed that she was probably from an upcoming project. She looks like she could be an explorer of some sort, so maybe she's just an NPC from Frontiers, I thought. And then she wasn't in Frontiers. Sonic Prime, maybe? Nope, no humans in Prime. Okay, well maybe the IDW comics are going to start incorporating humans, now that the "two worlds" thing has been undone and humans once again canonically exist on the same planet as Sonic and friends. Well, if she's gonna show up in the comics, it's been almost three years and we still haven't seen her. That'd be a hell of a lead time for comics, where production cycles are typically a matter of months, not years. Time continued to pass, and we still hadn't seen her. We just had Ian Flynn teasing us with a #KnowingSmile, assuring us that she existed for some reason, just one that he couldn't talk about yet.

Fast forward to late 2024, and she suddenly makes an appearance in the last place anyone would have expected: the third live action movie, via an electronic billboard in Shibuya.

At this point it almost felt like the lore team was trolling us. Is this just a scrapped character design that's become fodder for inside joke cameos or something? Surely all of this teasing couldn't have been for a throwaway character design on a billboard in the background of a movie.

But actually, this billboard gives us an important piece of information: her name! She's labeled here as "Professor Tori." This is important because it connects her to a previous release. In Shadow Generations, Gerald's journal is prefaced with a note from the person who recovered it, addressed to the GUN Commander. In the English version, it's simply signed "T," but in the Japanese version... it's signed "Tori"!

This gives us some actual info about Professor Tori. For one, she seems to work for GUN in their Archival and Requisitions Department. She's apparently also interested in learning about Gerald and Maria's lives, like their old friend Abe is.

Jump forward again to the New Year's episode of TailsTube, and this appears in the background.

Her full name is officially given as Professor Victoria, and she's a historian. So, that seems to confirm everything we've pieced together so far.

As far as things we can reasonably assume to be correct go, this is everything we know for certain about Victoria. She's a historian working for GUN. Cool! But that's not what really fascinates me about her. For that, we have to do a little more speculation based on conjecture.

See, Shadow Generations also establishes information about the Robotnik family tree. Gerald had two sons. One of them took after Gerald's love of technology and became an expert in the field of robotics, and would go on to be Eggman's father. The other son took after Gerald's love of archaeology. This man would go on to be Maria's father. But, as Maria mentions in Shadow Generations... she also happens to have a little sister we've never met before.

So now, the question is: is this Maria's sister, Victoria Robotnik?!

We can't be 100% certain right now, but honestly, until proven otherwise I'm assuming that Victoria is Maria's little sister, now all grown up and working for GUN. It all lines up too neatly. The conspicuous reveal that Maria has an unseen and unnamed little sister, in the same game that establishes her dad was a history guy and also that there's this new historian working for GUN who just so happens to be really interested in her life. And also their names both end in "-ria." Come on!! Putting her in the Robotnik family would also explain all these cryptic clues about her identity. If she was just some random GUN agent, why be so coy and make fans piece it together?

I guess the most odd part here would be, y'know, Victoria working for the organization that killed her sister and grandpa. But Sega's been pushing the idea that GUN is trying to do better for 20 years now, ever since they established that the GUN Commander was Maria's childhood friend on the ARK and had him make amends with Shadow. Hearing that Maria's sister had joined GUN to try and gain access to information about her family history and undo the elaborate coverup of the previous administration would make sense to me, personally. And lest we forget, this would also make Victoria Eggman's cousin, giving him a family member in GUN. And that's a pretty cool storytelling tool to have on hand!

So, that's where we're at now. We have no idea where Victoria will pop up next, whether it's a game or a comic or another TailsTube episode or something else entirely. But it seems like she's fairly important, even if this speculation about her being a Robotnik somehow ends up being wrong. (But I'm pretty damn sold on this theory, personally.) Either way, it's exciting to see the human cast get fleshed out in fun ways again. If we're gonna have humans in Sonic stories, I'd rather they have anime-style designs and interesting connections to the narrative, rather than just being generic humans for the sake of having humans. I'm looking forward to seeing whatever the lore team's been cooking up here.

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atlair890456 · 2 months ago

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A World Without Sonic the Hedgehog

This document talks about the following entries:

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

SegaSonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Knuckles' Chaotix

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic Heroes

Shadow the Hedgehog

Sonic Prime

The beginning of a videogame is important.

You need to make a good impression so as to encourage those just trying the game (or just trying it at an associate’s place) to commit to a purchase.

But you also need to teach those same players how to play the game, a hurdle that’s extra tough when accounting for those who have never picked up a controller before.

Older games usually had to dedicate their entire first levels into being subtle tutorials, teaching everything important without halting the flow of the game (it helps that back then it was normalised to print the game’s control scheme in a small booklet that came with the game).

Sonic the Hedgehog 1 was no different, if you passed the game to someone who had never played videogames before ever, you’re most likely going to see one thing first of all.

The player learns how to move left or right, and then walks straight into the first robot (a Motobug) and die.

That’s fine, obviously, that’s why the Motobug is even there in the first place, with rings just prior, so the player learns how to jump before they can continue with the game and see what it has to offer for them.

But I can’t help but wonder…

What if that was Sonic’s fate?

We may never truly know, but here's what I think would happen, in...

A World Without Sonic the Hedgehog

Era 0: the… Where’s the Timeline?

Wait, what?

Ah, right. With no Sonic, Shadow and Silver would never travel back in time to stop Mephiles and Iblis from escaping, creating the fiery post-apocalypse followed by the complete erasure of time itself as Solaris forms and destroys all.

But then Sonic never would’ve died against the Motobug to begin with, since that future never even comes to be, so how would we be able to say this happens for sure when the cause and effect are only possible due to a stable time loop of unknown origin?

Let’s… for simplicity’s sake, let’s assume this is in a timeline where 06 was already undone, shall we? We want to actually have a timeline, afterall.

Era 1: Classic Games

Our inciting incident, Sonic learns what’s happening on South Island, the animals being trapped and turned into robots by his long-time nemesis, Eggman, and runs off to help… directly into that first Motobug.

Eggman’s bounty system, which he had in place long enough that civilian trains he secretly made before this time period were using them, would mean that motobug would get any one “wish” it desired granted, within Dr. Eggman’s realistic capabilities. Likely nothing would come of this, but it is possible that it requests to, like, become Eggman’s strongest robot or something.

Eggman gets his hands on the 6 Chaos Emeralds hiding out amongst the island (given he achieves this even when Sonic stops him, as evidenced by the bad ending of Sonic 1), and from there gains the power needed to take over the world.

As for the supporting cast:

Mighty and Ray probably still get captured, and may or may not escape from Eggman Island. Presumably they do, given the game can be beaten solo or with a team of two as-is. They’re likely Eggman’s biggest obstacles going forward, just by virtue of Eggman’s rapid expansion.

With Eggman in charge, the fate of the world would likely have a resemblance to the Bad Futures of Sonic CD, the world in Sonic Forces, and New Yoke City in Sonic Prime.

But what about the 7th Chaos Emerald? We see at the end of Sonic Origin’s Sonic 1 that the 7th joined up with the other 6 when flying to South Island, but with them never making the trip where was it in the first place? Would it fly off somewhere? And if not to Westside Island, then to where?

It’s not a stretch to say Eggman will eventually be able to find it, especially since Tails is able to make an emerald radar by the time 3&K come around, and Eggman develops his own emerald radar by Sonic Adventure 2.

Amy Rose, whether due to some unconfirmed burgeoning clairvoyance or just fortune telling being an accurate method of telling the future in this continuity, would not get the same warning of a hero saving her on Little Planet, and as such would have no reason to go. Now, would Eggman grab the Time Stones?

Maybe.

But also maybe not. If he thinks the Chaos Emeralds are that much better he might just decide there’s no point, like when he left the Master Emerald behind because he was so impressed with the Phantom Ruby.

Given the Chaos Emeralds are also capable of time travel, it’s really a moot point in the grand scheme of things.

Tails, without Sonic to save him from bullies, would likely go on to develop vaguely similar to Nine from Sonic Prime (given that his mindset was born as a direct result of never being saved from bullies). Now that's not to say that he'll wind up exactly the same, the whole point of the Shatterverse is that they're different versions of the same cast, afterall.

Knuckles… would remain on his floating island, defending the Master Emerald from Eggman. At least until Newtrogic High Zone appears out of the ocean suddenly, then he’ll investigate that. Knuckles’ Chaotix is most likely the game that’s closest to playing out how it’s presented, with the only difference being that there’s no Metal Sonic and Eggman had plenty of time to prepare an emerald powered army, but conversely caught off-guard by so many people able to fight him all at once.

But beyond that, there's not much involvement Knuckles would have - afterall, Eggman's main benefit is the Chaos Emeralds, but the Master Emerald is capable of neutralising the Chaos Emeralds, and it's unlikely Eggman wants to push his luck unless he finds a good enough opening.

Say...

You remember that big dragon in Sonic Superstars, right? The one that just gets freed from no discernible cause? Yeah that probably still happens, causes problems too. But like, I don’t even know what it’s doing in the main timeline, there’s no way I can predict what it’ll do in this timeline. Just going to ignore it, pretend Eggman captures it somehow (like he planned to).

Era 2: the Adventure Games

Sonic Adventure… just wouldn’t happen. There’s no reason for it when Eggman’s already taking over the world with minimal resistance. As a result, Chaos and Tikal never get freed from the Master Emerald.

Big, given that he lives in a jungle, likely wouldn’t be bothered by Eggman’s takeover until it starts tearing apart his home. Gamma, if he exists, would never find reason to question his existence (and those birds will likely stay trapped).

Sonic Shuffle… might happen? It’s hard to say, but it’s within the realm of possibility. Nothing about Amy or Knuckles are fundamentally different that would lead them to decline, Big would probably still show up (if Gamma’s presence is given an in-universe explanation then it’s likely Big’s presence is within the realm of canon too).

And since the power of dreams can bring people back within Maginaryworld, and Sonic is already a world famous celebrity, it’s entirely plausible that he’d be present to help out, though I doubt he could just go back to Earth (given Gamma never went back either). Uh… Eggman ironically wouldn’t be present, not because he wouldn’t want to get the Precioustone, but because he wouldn’t be able to follow Sonic due to his death (not that I really understand how he managed to achieve that in the first place...). Tails is the only real outlier here, and likely wouldn’t end up in Maginaryworld.

Sonic Adventure 2 doesn’t happen… except for Knuckles and Rouge clashing. Unlike before, their fight over the Master Emerald would likely happen right away, given Eggman would not happen to be in the area.

Cream and Vanilla would get kidnapped for unspecified reasons, and then after that… Heroes wouldn’t happen, as there’s no Metal Sonic.

And already things aren’t looking great, are they? Eggman’s taken over the world, Tails has become a cynical, self-centered hermit, most of the cast are either fighting against Eggman’s emerald-boosted forces or just trying to protect themselves, and the nature and beauty of the planet is slowly getting torn apart.

Yeah, well, now the Black Arms arrive. Strong enough to overpower both GUN and the Eggman Empire, in a timeline where only one of those exist now, and who have the motivation to awaken Shadow – someone who wants revenge on humanity – and is as powerful as SA2 Sonic would’ve been, without a Sonic to necessitate Eggman making bigger and stronger robots, they'll be more than a match for Eggman.

And Eggman has all 7 Chaos Emeralds gathered together. This is the fate of humanity without Sonic, kept aboard the Black Comet as food for the rest of their lives. Even if Shadow tried to stop Black Doom (due to wanting to outright destroy the planet), he’ll just end up getting mind controlled due to his genetic relation with Black Doom.

Some miscellaneous events that would not be effect by this:

Blaze’s universe would be rather peaceful, with no Eggman Nega from the future to cause problems. But also Blaze would forever be in the mindset of being cursed to be alone and needing to do things by herself.

Erazor Djinn would not be able to find the 7 World Rings without someone not native to his world to collect them (assuming his book world doesn't get destroyed upon the physical book's destruction).

Merlina’s spell to summon “a hero from another world” either wouldn’t work or would bring in… someone else. So she’d either die from King Arthur or there would be too many unknown variables to even try and predict what will happen (again assuming the world's existence isn't reliant on the physical book).

The Wisps never get captured en masse? Yay?

Time Eater chilling in the void.

Dodon Pa will have to find his racers elsewhere.

All in all, it’s quite a good thing that the future of Sonic’s world wasn’t dependent on the very first time you played a Sonic the Hedgehog game, because that first run would have almost certainly ended in an apocalypse.

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