#Redesign phantom rider Sonic AU

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What if Dr. Eggman went in a different direction when designing the Phantom Rider? What if Dr. Eggman was smart enough to recognize the flaws?

This is the design I come up with my messy drawing skills,

How this idea resonated with me, I noticed something off after rereading the phantom rider debut in issue 70. The design is on brand for Dr. Eggman and elements of his inspiration (Sonic). It’s cool and I like it, but with the contestant in the race you would have thought he would keep in mind…

Sonic not being able to run, being in mid air and running would give away his identity

Someone like Surge could easily override electronic devices

Sonic is likely to be outnumbered + the security

This would all equate to the likelihood of Sonic getting caught which happened in issue 71, but what if he changed it to something that prevented it all from happening? After all it’s meant to be a secret mission to distract and sway any suspicion of an alternative motive.

The digital disguise would overlay Sonic’s identity, though it appears generic, it’s meant to make him look vulnerable. Having “no” armor or protection would reduce the chance of Surge ramming into him or do anything reckless. However if that’s not the case then there are many options that can make up for this, in an urgent situation Sonic could activate invisibility cloak and an effective use of the hologram to project the background. 

Taking advantage that apparently the power ups that exist in the IDW world of Sonic, just hadn’t been used often and only one reference of it, might as well come up with something, I also added item boxes too. Thinking Dr. Eggman can compress them in the controls on the gloves. Just to add purpose to them.

On the hoverboard, this would trigger by a button on the board, when pressing on the front:

This would triggered automatically if someone get too close with the exception of Sonic / Phantom Rider. The fake Phantom rider won’t be able to bypass it either.

What’s on glove A: the left hand

This is for Surge or anyone that would try to apprehend him:

This would be a way for “Phantom rider” to move around to mess with the others by teleporting them:

This might be useful for saving the guy from falling:

Making changes to the overall debut of Sonic villain alter ego “Phantom rider” that would still remain as his name, but he won’t transform on top of the rim as he could just transform elsewhere and be invisible while riding on his hoverboard. Just to sneak in, make himself visible and then snatch the camera and introduce himself as the “Phantom rider”, I think it would be clever as now it has a literal meaning into it. 

For his crimes that would be changed for the benefit of self defense:

He’ll do vandalism spraying some color in the course, if someone gets hit they have a similar effect to colorball in Sonic riders: Zero gravity game. Which obscure the vision of the racer to see a splash of color. Putting out a smoke trail of color would be optional as you can see in the reference I terribly hand drawn.

This would be part of the hoverboard, the trigger is the back end as you can tell:

Glove B: right hand

If Sonic can’t balance on the hoverboard, might as well fly away

-The second button is the On/Off for the hologram disguise

-Lastly be On/Off for the voice filter, I was thinking how hilarious and confusing it would be if he triggered it in front of one of his friends while being Phantom Rider. However, brush it off immediately as a cheap trick, 

What do you think? Overall I sorta want to keep Sonic having his villain alter ego as a secret, honestly. Do you think this AU would change anything in the story, with more prep and gadgets or would Mimic have a chance of revealing the “Phantom rider’s” identity in the end?

The design itself on Phantom Rider, it’s a Badger and yes it’s heavy metal themed because I thought it would look cool and yes the details on the hoverboard are intentional.