History Comicbook / ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog

[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/db360b957482345d6ef7978300cbad0b.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[LongRunner 24 years and still kept it cool]].]]

The US comic book based on the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' video game franchise, published monthly by Creator/ArchieComics from July 1993 to December 2016. It is not to be confused with the similarly [[LongRunners long-running]] ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' from the UK.

The comic debuted in November 1992: A four issue mini-series were commissioned to test the waters, after which a monthly publication run began in July 1993. Originally, the book was a tie-in for ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'', though mixed with goofier elements from [[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog the other animated Sonic show at the time]]; Robotnik had already taken over the idyllic Kingdom of Acorn, from where he waged his campaign to take over the world by turning all organic creatures into robots. He was opposed by the Freedom Fighters, a motley crew who operated out of their secret base of Knothole within the Great Forest.

In the beginning, the book was a lighthearted, gag-centric affair. Each issue would feature a few silly stories of the Freedom Fighters thwarting Robotnik's dastardly, ridiculous plans while making sure to tell as many terrible ([[WorldOfPun usually pun-based]]) jokes as possible and {{breaking the fourth wall}} left and right. This being a comic tie-in, there were frequent jabs at [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Creator/DCComics, such as the MirrorUniverse Robotnik turning out to be a kindly veterinarian and being harried by the "Anti-Freedom Fighters" (''à la'' [[Characters/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaCrimeSyndicate Earth-3 Luthor and Ultraman]]), and a ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''-style plot in which an army of Sonics teamed up to beat a colossus.

Over time, the book began to develop a distinct mythology--along with the occasional video game tie-ins, such as the "platinum" ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'' issue, the one-shot ''VideoGame/KnucklesChaotix'' special, and a three-part miniseries which was (very) loosely based on ''VideoGame/TailsAdventure''. The book moved from one-off gags to [[ContinuityCreep multi-issue arcs]] and drama as early as issue #17's "Princess Sally's Crusade," which took a somber tone and was the first time one of the Freedom Fighters died (on-panel, no less). This phase was arguably closest in tone to the ''[=SatAM=]'' series.

The book [[CerebusSyndrome surpassed the cartoon in grittiness]] at around issue #39, after Sonic was caught and temporarily roboticized, leading to his [[KangarooCourt gleeful prosecution]] by Antoine ([[FrenchJerk still a jerk]] at this juncture) and banishment from Knothole as punishment for the havoc he caused. In the lead-up to issue #50, Sonic's LoveInterest Sally was betrayed by a spy and killed off... [[ExecutiveVeto until someone higher-up decided they didn't like it]], so she was instead put in a coma. Meanwhile, Knuckles got his own short-lived spinoff series which dealt with the mostly-original lore surrounding his island's LostWorld. In another side-reference, Knuckles' tribe were preserved in a high-tech city on the island, but in a pocket dimension; Knuckles sought to restore them much like Superman's Kandor or New Krypton. It introduced a big ensemble of characters across its 32-issue life, most of whom made the jump into the main series once his book got axed.

The late-nineties had a drought of mainline Sonic games, so the book was momentarily allowed to have its own identity. Robotnik went away for awhile ([[JokerImmunity later to return]] as "Eggman"), and the stories that followed were [[{{Soaperizing}} more soap-operatic]], with Sally's [[TheChainsOfCommanding royal angst]], {{love triangle}}s, politics, and {{long lost relative}}s coming out of the woodwork. The artwork got a lot more detailed and moodier, too; although there were glimpses of the original spirit of ''[=SatAM=]'', such as Sonic being mistaken for [[Myth/RobinHood a green hedgehog who fought a robotic "High Sheriff" with slings and arrows.]]

The release of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '99 {{retool}}ed many of Sonic's canonical elements, such as Sonic living among human society, and Archie had to [[ContinuitySnarl bend into pretzels]] trying to keep up. In 2013, the book underwent a ContinuityReboot, discarding many of the previous characters and stories due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers a nasty legal battle with previous writers]]. While most of the core cast remained intact, the book was essentially overhauled to more accurately reflect the video games, both old and new. This sadly undid years of storylines and character development, but on the upside, it provided a good jumping-on point for new readers without [[ContinuityLockout having to worry about continuity]]. In 2013, it crossed over with Archie's ''ComicBook/MegaMan'' title in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide'', which was used to justify the aforementioned reboot, followed by [[http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/7/6938879/worlds-unit-in-mega-man-sonic-crossover-series another crossover]] titled ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsUnite'', in 2015.

The comic suddenly ceased being published after the release of issue #290 in December 2016. Archie's only real statement on the subject was that the comic was on an indefinite hiatus, but as the "hiatus" stretched into the summer of 2017, with Archie only making very sporadic and vague comments referring to some sort of ongoing negotiations with SEGA, and the comic's creative staff having quietly moved on to other projects, readers saw the writing on the wall. Indeed, after 24 years of partnership with Archie, SEGA officially announced the cancellation of the series in July 2017 [[https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/887809496898088960 via the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter page]]. SEGA insisted in the same statement that Sonic comics would continue, albeit not in the same form and [[ChannelHop with a different publisher]]. Two days later, at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, it was revealed that Creator/IDWPublishing will start publishing ''Sonic'' comics starting on April 4, 2018. Speaking of which, the page for IDW ''Sonic'' books is [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW here]].

A number of companion books spawned from the series over the years, including several miniseries, the previously mentioned Knuckles comic, several one-shot "special" issues, a tie-in book for ''ComicBook/SonicX'', a quarterly magazine, and a second comic series running sidestories alongside the main book called ''Sonic [[TheVerse Universe]],'' which focused on the activities of Freedom Fighters other than Sonic -- and their villains, too. The two series took place at the same time and occasionally made references to each other.

It has a fairly-exhaustive [[TheWikiRule Wiki]] in the [[http://archiesonic.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Mobius Encyclopaedia.]]

Fan-continuations of the original, non-rebooted universe also exist, such as ''Webcomic/SonicRetold'' and ''Webcomic/ArchieSonicOnline''.
----
[[foldercontrol]]

!!Tropes applicable to both continuities:
[[folder:Tropes A-B]]
* ActionGirl: Every major female character, even the pre-school aged kids. It would actually be easier to name the girls who ''aren't'' this to some degree.
* AdaptationExpansion: Quite notable in that the comic has actually the most fleshed-out universe of all ''Sonic'' media, including the original games.
* AdaptationNameChange: Several names were changed from the [=SatAM=] show on which the comic was based:
** Antoine Depardieu became Antoine D'Coolette. Worth noting, however, that his name originally ''was'' D'Coolette in the earliest issues, before [=SatAM=] even aired. The surname in fact originated from early concept notes for the show, which was changed in the final cartoon; Sally's unmentioned surname "Acorn" also derived said notes.
** Nagus became Ixis Naugus. With the Super Genesis Wave, his named was changed to Walter "Wally" Naugus.
%%* AfterTheEnd: 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 another.
%%* AIIsACrapshoot:
%%** NICOLE is a kindly AI in both continuities, while A.D.A.M. is a malicious AI who tried to initiate a GreyGoo scenario in the old one and Phage in the new one. Honorable mention goes to the various Metal Sonics, Gamma, Omega, and E.V.E.
* AllDeathsFinal: The comic adheres to this rule to a remarkable degree for a kids comic. Pretty much anyone who dies is guaranteed to stay dead. For example, the original Dr. Robotnik stayed dead completely and the character was brought back by having an alternate universe version take his place rather than being revived.
* AlternateUniverse: Universes are known as "Zones". Beginning with the Mirror Universe with Scourge the Hedgehog, and continuing with Blaze the Cat and her "Sol Zone". In one "zone", Sonic is a cop who patrols between zones.
%%* AlternativeCalendar
* AlternativeSelfNameChange: The Suppression Squad eventually took names that separated themselves from their good counterparts after growing tired of being called the "Anti-" versions. Anti-Sonic renamed himself Scourge, Anti-Tails refers to himself by his real name of Miles rather than his nickname, Anti-Sally calls herself by her middle name Alicia, and so on.
* UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents: Bunnie has a Dixie accent, despite there being no [[TheDeepSouth U.S. South]].
* AndIMustScream: This was a big part of the reason roboticization was supposed to be so horrifying.
** Geoffrey was subjected to this after Naugus possesses his body. PlayedForLaughs in an Off-Panel strip where he finds out that all Naugus' inner selves do while imprisoned inside him is play poker.
* {{Animesque}}: DependingOnTheArtist, some issues would go into this.
* AntiHero: Shadow varies a bit on what type he is. DiscussedTrope with Eggman 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 [[ThouShaltNotKill don't kill]]! Isn't there a [[RecycledInSpace hedgehog moral code]]?\\
'''Shadow:''' Sonic holds such beliefs. Then again, he's a hero, I'm not.
* ArchEnemy: Sonic has Eggman, naturally. Scourge at least thinks he's this to Sonic. Knuckles originally had Dimitri, though Finitevus eventually took the position after the former's shift into AntiVillain territory and eventual HeelFaceTurn.
** [[CainAndAbel Julie-Su and Lien-Da]]
** Tails got one in Speedy.
* ArmCannon: Bunnie has one. [[AwesomeButImpractical Which makes her faint when overused]]. The Iron Queen tried to kill her this way in issue 203.
* ArtisticAge
* ArtEvolution: The comic's "standard" style has changed many times. At first, the art mimicked ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM''. Around the time ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' was released, the comic redesigned Sonic, Tails, and Amy to reflect their game counterparts and the book took on an {{Animesque}} style. The style of the book gradually shifted to the look of the modern video games, and eventually the older Archie characters were redesigned again for the ContinuityReboot.
* ArtShift: Some stories switched artists halfway through, such as "Night of 1000 Sonics" in issue #19, the "End Game" story arc, and issue #125. Issue #50 switched artists and writers between different pages, and #152 had three artists with a single writer.
%%* AscendedMeme:
%%** In issue 205, Robotnik runs into Snively and accuses him of "Snoo-PING AS usual".
%%** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bNCfEvQFUY "...FROM THE SHOW! I'm going to be on TV! I'm going to be a TV Star!"]]
** The [[http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35900000/StH-231-Archie-Off-Panel-tails-doll-35938456-698-344.png Tails Doll]] being an EldritchAbomination draws from very popular {{Creepypasta}}.
%%** From Worlds Collide:
%%--->'''Copy Robot:''' [[Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie Strange, isn't it?]]
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Bean, typically -- Fiona manages to ditch him by throwing a set of shiny keys out the window, knowing he'll dive after them.
* BadassNormal:
** The closest thing Amy Rose has to a power is her [[DropTheHammer Piko Piko Hammer]]. She is also the only one capable of going toe-to-toe with the NighInvulnerable Iron King.
** Sally, Post-Development Antoine, and Rotor. They have no fantastic powers, but have their own expertise.
* BaldOfEvil: Dr. Robotnik/Eggman and his nephew Snively, though Snively doesn't think of himself as bald. Having about six hairs doesn't really count as a "full head of hair", but he's vain and deluded enough to think it does.
* BarefootCartoonAnimal: A few examples, such as Nicole in her lynx form, Rosemary Prower (Tails's mother), the alien Ceneca-9009, and Bunnie Rabbot (after she regained her flesh-and-blood limbs, at least).
** Pretty much everyone who regularly went barefoot was retooled to wear shoes after the second [[CosmicRetcon Genesis Wave]] (including Nicole and Bunnie - the latter regaining her robotic limbs, but having her feet look more like white, pink-striped boots). However, another barefooter was later introduced during the ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' adaptation with the priestess Coral the Betta.
* BareYourMidriff: Princess Sally Acorn, Julie-Su, [[EvilIsSexy Regina Ferrum a.k.a. The Iron Queen, and Fiona Fox]].
* BetaCouple: Antoine and Bunnie.
* BettyAndVeronica: Unsurprising for an Archie Comic, Sonic and Sally tend to flip flop around over who is the Archie and who is the Betty, but boy is there a ''long'' conga line of Veronicas.
* BickeringCouplePeacefulCouple: [[OfficialCouple Sonic and Sally]] clash [[http://archive.is/tPbWo pretty much constantly,]] even ''years'' after they [[MarriedInTheFuture get married]]. [[BetaCouple Bunnie and Antoine]] are complete sweethearts to each other.
* BigBad: Dr. Robotnik/Eggman has always been the overall BigBad of the series, but occasionally the series has had other villains being the driving force behind events:
** The [[DragonLady Iron Queen]] was BigBad of the "Iron Dominion" arc (while Eggman was incapacitated by [[spoiler:a VillainousBreakdown]].)
** Dr. Finitevus, for the "Enerjak Reborn" arc.
** Sonic's EvilTwin Scourge, a long-time BigBadWannabe, finally earned BigBad status during the "Bold New Moebius" arc.
** [[KnightTemplar King Shadow]] acts as BigBad for the ''[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture X Years Later]]'' stories.
** [[EvilSorcerer Ixis Naugus]] and [[MagnificentBastard Mammoth Mogul]] have had their turns at being BigBad several times over the course of the series, and ''[[TheStarscream Snively]]'' got his turn for a little while, after the original Robotnik died but before Eggman replaced him.
** Meanwhile, [[MadScientist Dimitri]] - the [[LegacyCharacter original Enerjak]] - was more or less the BigBad of Knuckles' spin-off series.
* BigBadEnsemble: Eggman has always been the overall BigBad 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. [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog Black Doom]] and [[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries Eggman Nega]] would also be major threats, but the former is a bit busy [[PosthumousCharacter being dead]], and the latter is fooling around in the shadows. As of the Post-Super Genesis Wave, we can add Dark Gaia to this list.
* BigDamnHeroes: Almost every heroic character has done this at least once. A notable example is in the ongoing Fractured World arc, where Sonic and Rotor are saved from drowning and [[VideoGame/SonicUnleashed Dark Gaia's Dark Guardian]] by [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Chaos]].
* BlessedWithSuck:
** 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 this, 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.
* BountyHunter: Nack and his sister Nic fill this trope to a T.
* BrattyHalfPint: Marine. ([[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries No surprise there]]).
* TheBusCameBack: Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts returned in Issue #187 after a hundred and thirty issues of absence, now employed by Mammoth Mogul at the Casino Night Zone.
** The Badniks have returned in the post-reboot issues, many of them as part of Hordes led by a Super-Badnik Commander.
* ButtMonkey:
** 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes C-L]]
* TheCameo:
** So far, the only appearances of [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog 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). After ''Worlds Collide'', the Black Arms return to Sonic's world in a recent Universe arc to avenge Black Doom's death (the events of ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' occurred in the reboot timeline) and will have another Universe arc in the future.
** [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Mephiles the Dark]] and [[VideoGame/SonicShuffle Void]] appeared as inmates in the Zone Jail in ''Sonic Universe'' #29.
** Chester Cheetah appears in issue 72. For some reason.
** Issue #134 has some Characters from the UK's ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' (Tekno the Canary, Ebony the Cat and her partner Pajaymas, Shortfuse the Cybernik and Metamorphia) make cameo appearances. Licensing issues have prevented them from appearing since.
** [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Crow T. Robot]] [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxwtbbD8XF1r2tdnt.png makes an appearance]] in an earlier issue.
** Issue 290 has one of the more surprising cameo appearances [[http://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Sonic-The-Hedgehog/Issue-290?id=99383#23 in its Off-Panel short]]: [[http://www.ratfink.com/ Rat Fink of Ed Roth fame]].
** [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]], of all people, shows up in a crowd shot in issue 257. This was largely a joke by artist Tracey Yardly as Linkara is a known non-fan of the comic.
** [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Rocksteady and Bebop]] are part of the Zone Police prison population who enjoyed tormenting Scourge.
* CanonDiscontinuity / ContinuityReboot: Invoked; due to the CosmicRetcon, which rewrote their entire universe on a molecular and timeline level (which not only completely wiped characters like Robotnik Prime out of existence, but ensured he ''never existed in the first place'') none of the original 251 stories technically happened, and the existing cast only has faint memories of the original timeline that will eventually fade away. Ironically, this makes the ''Sonic Encyclopedia'', released just before the reboot, a near-perfect compilation of the original universe, barring "Endangered Species", "Chaotix Quest", ''Sonic Universe'' #50 and ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' #247
* CanonForeigner: Tons. They outnumber the original characters.
* CardCarryingVillain: The series [[DependingOnTheWriter hasn't been entirely consistent]] about which of its antagonists openly identify as evil, but Robotnik and Anti-Sonic/Scourge definitely do.
** In the very first issue, there is a sign on Robotnik's desk which reads "Dr. Robotnik: Supreme Dictator, Industrial Polluter, Megalomaniac, Corrupt Politician, Underhanded Reprobate, Rain Forest Ravager, [[KickTheDog Puppy Kicker]], Oil Spill Coordinator, Holiday Hater, Insurance Salesman. Rights violated while U wait!"
** As does Drago. When he and Razorklaw captured Sally in issue 214, the latter [[StatingTheSimpleSolution suggested just killing her]], which led to Drago scolding him for not messing with her first and calling Razorklaw a lousy villain.
%%* CasualDangerDialogue: Oh my yes.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn:
** Robotnik (the first one) was more like his ''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'' self in early comics, even though he looked like his ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' 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 ''[=SatAM=]'' Robotnik, he was pretty close to it by ''Endgame''. His current Eggman persona is something of a CompositeCharacter of this and his more comedic games counterpart.
** 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 [[BrattyHalfPint brattish and prissy character]] compared to current persona, which is arguably the nearest to a [[WomenAreWiser "normal" character]] in the comics.
%%* CheekyMouth: It's Sonic the Hedgehog. Of ''course'' he has this.
* CliffHanger: Naturally, they abound, as is the norm for a comic series.
** In reaction to Fiona's FaceHeelTurn and her running off with Scourge, issue 172 ends with Antoine storming off, saying he's going to do something he should've done long ago. Issue 173 begins with him asking Bunnie to marry him.
** [[spoiler:The Silver Age arc ends with Silver and friends falling into a Genesis portal that opened up.]]
%%* CloudCuckoolander: Bean doesn't really have lucid moments. You just find a way to make his madness work for you.
%%* TheComicallySerious:
%%** Shadow is occasionally used to this effect, particularly when paired off with characters like [[BrattyHalfPint Marine]] or [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Cream]].
%%** Sally also has moments of this, though it was more prominent with her earlier, crankier persona.
* ContinuityDrift
* CosmicRetcon:
** 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 AlternateTimeline where instead of being a {{Utopia}} ruled by King Sonic, Mobius is a totalitarian state ruled by [[KnightTemplar King Shadow]]. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Sonic and many of his friends [[RippleEffectProofMemory 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 BadFuture he lives in.
** Following ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide'', the entire Sonic comic series is subject to a complete and total reset; several characters were abandoned, all ongoing stories were dropped, most of the cast was redesigned (either in appearance or personality), several terms and names were changed, most of the franchise's core games were considered canon to the new backstory, and the previous continuity was left as nothing more than lingering memories among the core cast which would eventually fade away. The series's world also no longer has a name, thanks to Sega's mandate preventing the use of the word "Mobius".
* CowardlyLion: Antoine is usually a coward in most situations but can be realizable when it really matters. He later gets CharacterDevelopment, to the point of even throwing himself into danger willingly to carry out his duty.
* CuteBruiser: Amy, full stop.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Usually the point of the story arcs in ''Sonic Universe'', both to keep the main story moving in the regular comic and give supporting characters a chance to shine as well as tell some alternate tales (Such as ''Mobius X Years Later'' which originally took up the 2nd half of the comic in earlier issuses). Sonic's only made around 10 appearances in the series, [[WolverinePublicity aside from covers.]]
* DontCelebrateJustYet: Bunnie and Antoine's post-wedding party is interrupted by Snively firebombing Knothole. Robotnik's defeat in #200 is interrupted by a pissed-off Monkey Khan. When the balloons go up, shit goes down.
* TheEmpire: The Eggman Empire, to be precise.
* EndOfAnAge: Out of universe, with the comic canceled and the confirmation that none of the characters from the Archie series will be returning for [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW the next comic series]], it would seem whatever remnants of the characters and concepts started by ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' have finally come to a close.
* EvilRedhead: Fiona Fox (straight example).
%%* FatBastard: Take a guess.
%%* FirstNameBasis
* FootnoteFever: 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 [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded frequently.]]
* FormerlySapientSpecies: Pre-Genesis Wave, the Tasmanian Devils used to be sapient alongside the other Mobian races but were subjected to genetic engineering by the [[HigherTechSpecies Echidnas]] in ancient times, turning them bestial. By the present day, [[MakeMeWannaShout Thrash]] [[AntiVillain the Devil]] is the [[LastOfHisKind last of the sapient tasmanians]] and seeks to make the Echidnas pay for what they did to his kind.
* FourFingeredHands: Inconsistent for years, given the conflicting source material -- the cartoons gives everyone four fingers (usually), while the games give almost every one of their characters five. DependingOnTheArtist, sometimes every character has five fingers, and others the Sega characters have five and everybody else has four. Earlier issues established that the main difference between "Overlanders" and proper humans was the number of fingers: four and five, respectively. Both the finger-debacle and the distinction between the two types of humans were quietly phased out.
* FourthWallMailSlot: Characters have occasionally answered fan mail "directly" through Sonic-Grams, the online blogs, and during a "novelty question month" on Ian Flynn's messageboard.
* FunnySchizophrenia: Bean. Take Daffy Duck, cross him with ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} (albeit a [[{{Bowdlerize}} G-rated Deadpool]]). You have something slightly less crazy than Bean.
-->'''Bean:''' That was awesome! How do your glutes feel?\\
'''Sonic:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Shut. Up. Bean.]]
* GadgeteerGenius: The comic has a lot of these, most notably Rotor, Tails, and Uncle Chuck.
* GeniusSerum: A VERY early issue had [[TagalongKid Tails]] eat a fruit from Rotor's Tree of Knowledge, instantly gaining a mega-genius intellect. It lasted long enough for him to get a swollen ego and try to take on Robotnik himself. According to WordOfGod, however, while the boost in knowledge was temporary, the fruit did permanently unlock Tails's own enhanced intelligence, explaining his at the time rather childish depiction suddenly falling into line with the technical genius he was depicted in in the games.
* GrandFinale: ''Panic in the Sky'' is pretty much the technical finale of the comic as it does end with the heroes stopping Eggman and saving the world. The following comics were meant to celebrate the game series 25th anniversary before leading into a new arc, but the comic was cancelled before that could happen.
* GratuitousPrincess: There's more princesses in Sonic's world than you can shake a stick at.
* TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin: One of the comic's mandates in fact outright states that Sonic can not lose in a story (at least in a manner that is not negated in the quick run). [[LoopholeAbuse There is no mandate however stating how clean a victory it must be,]] [[BittersweetEnding as many outcomes show.]]
* GoshdangItToHeck: Lots of [[{{Bowdlerise}} bowdlerized]] profanities.
** Actually ''subverted'' with Antoine, who frequently says ''[[ForeignCussWord mon dieu]]''. In issue 172 he says "[[ForeignCussWord Zut alors!]]", which means "[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Damn them!]]"
** Scourge the Hedgehog and Nack the Weasel both actually do swear, though [[SymbolSwearing censored]], since this IS a kid's comic.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Many over the course of the comic, ranging from the Arctic Freedom Fighters all the way to the G.U.N. special forces.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Because Eggman was so hasty in trying to stop Super Sonic's ResetButton attempt, most of his victories have been rendered nulled - Knothole and Mobotropolis stand, Sally's no longer Mecha Sally and the Freedom Fighters are still active.
* HumanSubspecies: The Overlanders and Mobians, thanks to the first Xorda attack causing most lifeforms to degrade into a genetic muck and then reform. For the longest time, it was thought that they were what's left of humanity. Then ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' came out, and was adapted into an arc. Baseline humanity managed to survive in hidden cities that survived the Xorda.
* KilledOffscreen: Nate Morgan was in Robotropolis when [[spoiler:Station Square nuked it.]]
* LeftHanging: The original continuity was this by virtue of a CosmicRetcon that erased nearly everything and left many unresolved plotlines before the reboot. The book's cancellation in 2017 caused reboot itself to become this.
* LegoGenetics: Sally Acorn is the most prominent example, being half squirrel and half chipmunk without any problems. This is probably the most reasonable example, since squirrels and chipmunks are at least from the same family of rodents.
* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: The comic kinda flip flops on this. In the old verse, there were two types of humanoid species, regular humans and Overlanders (of which Robotnik and Eggman belong to) who were mutated humans after an alien race changed the planet with gene bombs (though Meta-wise, it was just a way to explain why most of the human looking characters look different then others). There doesn't really seem to be much difference save for Overlanders having four fingers, special abilities and supposed increased aggression though there are a few good Overlanders. For the most part, Overlanders and humans live in their own colonies separate from the humanoid animals and are very rarely seen with the most prominent being Robotnik, Eggman, Snively, Hope, Nate Morgan (up till his death), and Regina a.k.a Iron Queen. In the new verse, it seems it just regular humans and anthromophic animals living side by side with no mutation involved.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: You have almost everyone from the videogames, all of [=SatAM's=] major characters, and tons of characters created by dozens of authors all together in one book. Even characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' show up!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes M-Z]]
* MakeRoomForTheNewPlot: This would come to characterize Ian Flynn's first year as the head writer on the comic, as most of his immediate order of business was quickly tying up most of the lingering plots left behind by Ken Penders and Karl Bollers (Tails being TheChosenOne; the identity of "Anonymous"), reworking some of the comic exclusive elements (turning Evil Sonic into Scourge), writing some out contentious characters and plot elements (the Mystics Walkers, the Source of All, Tommy Turtle), and trying to bring the comic's world more in line with the game series' mythos (reducing the comic's hundreds of Chaos Emeralds into the seven found in the games; turning "The Zone of Silence" into "The Special Zone").
* MindScrew: After Genesis Wave II, NICOLE has been used to restore old world memories for the Freedom Fighters. The reaction has been depicted as this...save for Bunnie, who undergoes a DespairEventHorizon due to changes in history in the new reality[[labelnote:spoiler]]Bunnie's robotic limbs in the new reality were constructs to save her life from an attack, not the result of UnwillingRoboticization. This makes it highly unlikely she'll ever be restored again.[[/labelnote]], and Sally, who undergoes a similar DespairEventHorizon after very suddenly remembering everything she did as Mecha Sally.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Robotnik.
* MrExposition: Being a comic this is often required and many characters switch off exposition duties, though there are a lot of backstory references and MythologyGag one liners frequently used, with varying ranges of clunkiness. Nate Morgan was the most blatant expository device.
* TheMultiverse: Very early on, the comic parodied the DC multiverse with a literal "superhighway" connecting the various worlds. In a "Bizarro" universe, Dr. Eggman is a kindly veterinarian, while Sonic and his cohorts are evil hooligans in biker outfits. In another, Dr. Eggman was nearly defeated by the Freedom Fighters, but turned himself into a robot as a last resort (and he's even more kill-crazy than the original).
** Another is a whole prison dimension called the "No Zone" where many of the characters have a "Z" in their names (Zonic, Zobotnik, etc) and are policemen keeping tabs on the world criminals of the multiverse or are said criminals themselves. Oh yeah and gravity is screwy to keep criminals off balance and prevent them from escaping.
** Every Sonic game and television show is in canon, except that most exist in multiple universes, or 'Zones'. This includes: The 'Prime' Universe, the VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}} Dimension, the WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground Universe, the (inevitable) ComicBook/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch crossover, and a ''Franchise/SailorMoon''-inspired universe where Knuckles wears a tuxedo. Go figure. The "real" world is yet another universe, and features lawyer-friendly versions of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, hot on the trail of a giant blue talking hedgehog. (''Sonic Live'')
** Recently, the CosmicRetcon following ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide'' caused the entire multiverse to collapse on itself and be reborn. It's yet to be told as to what original worlds are left and what new ones are there. Unfortunately, Ken Penders [[DisneyownsThisTrope has claimed he owns the idea of a Sonic multiverse]], so Archie is extremely unlikely to do anything of the sort in the reboot aside from Blaze's dimension (which originated in the video games).
*** However, there is [[LoopholeAbuse an obvious loophole]] that they're taking with this with ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsUnite'' - [[spoiler:There's no more multiverse of Sonics - there's the Sega multiverse and the Capcom multiverse]].
* MyGreatestFailure: Uncle Chuck feels terrible for creating the Roboticizer that led to Robotnik forming his army.
* MyMasterRightOrWrong: [[spoiler:Espio... sort of.]]
* MythologyGag: [[MythologyGag/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Now with its own page]].
* NoEnding: The comic sadly never had a real proper ending thanks to the cancellation. Even before the reboot, the current story arcs (Sonic, Tails and Amy chasing after a robotized Sally, the matter with Naugus ruling New Mobotopolis and him having possessed Geoffrey. On the ''Universe'' side of things, Finitevus plotting something and Scourge set to make a comeback) were never concluded thanks to the lawsuit being settled and the writers using the crossover with ''ComicBook/MegaMan'' to preform a CosmicRetcon to change the whole world of the series. The closest the comic got in recent times was the end of the ''Shattered World'' arc which had Sonic and the Freedom Fighters saving the world from Dark Gaia. But Eggman still got away at the end with it implied he was going to the Lost Hex to find a different power source for the Death Egg, among other supposed threats he had in store (such as a new roboticizer). The following issues afterward were one issue compressed re-tellings of Sonic's past games (1, 2 and CD) which likewise just ended on cliffhangers and telling the readers to play the games to find out what happened. Had the series continued, we would've gotten one more issue featuring Sonic 3 & Knuckles before heading into a new story arc proper. Likewise the final ''Sonic Universe'' arc ended on a simple story with the Chaotix and ''that'' left a cliffhanger with the Setting Dawn Pirates stranded on an island with a supposedly dangerous weapon they had found in a temple. Again, had things continued, a new story arc would've followed.
* NoFourthWall: The "Off Panel" strips and in the comic's early era, when Michael Gallagher was the main writer.
* NoodlePeople: Several; almost everyone is drawn with noodle limbs, but Ash Mongoose is particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} in this regard.
* OffModel: It was so bad that there is [[http://amomentofarchiesonic.tumblr.com/ 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.
** The aforementioned "Many Hands" turned in downright abysmal art that hardly ''wasn't'' in this trope. Ron Lim's takes on the characters were pretty off, too.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Tails, for Miles.
* PassedInTheirSleep: In the "Mobius: 25 Years Later" comic arc, Knuckles mentions that this trope is how his father, Locke, died, while he was admitted to hospital.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Occurs a few times, often with a case of RightHandVsLeftHand.
** As early as the first issue of the comic, the Freedom Fighters "rescue" Sally from the Robotociser, only for an angry Sally to reveal she had been implanted with a device made by Rotor to decode how the machine works and allow for an opportunity to reverse its effects. This misunderstanding itself was caused by Sally refusing to tell Sonic her plan earlier out of spite.
** Silver's crusade to find a Freedom Fighter that will doom the future ultimately leaves him a pariah with the group due to curtly accusing or attacking any member he comes to the conclusion may be a suspect. He finally discovers the true pivot was Sally, unwillingly while robotised, though Tails still has to [[LetMeAtHim prevent a livid Sonic from attacking him]] after he awkwardly words this as Sally being a traitor.
%%* PredecessorVillain: Robotnik Prime.
* ProductPlacement:
** Stories that really serve no purpose other than to serve as a five-page advertisement for whatever the newest Sonic game is. Word of God has declared the "another time, another place" stories were non-canon in the comic's continuity, although some elements from the games themselves may seep in.
** Sometimes the "Editor Notes" will include something along the lines "Find out more in this other issue, Available Now!" Often lampshaded in the Sonic-Grams letters page, where if a graphic novel is mentioned they would follow it by a "[=PlugPlugPlug=]."
* ProjectedMan: How Nicole now interacts with the rest of the cast, in a lyn(u)x form.
* PsychoForHire: Bean is the ComedicSociopathy version of this.
* PunnyName:
** As elsewhere in the franchise, Tails' full name is Miles Prower. Miles-Per-Hour.
** The comic tended to like a lot of puns for a while, and originated many of its own. A particularly cringeworthy example would be "Sleuth Dawggy-Dawg," who actually turned into a fairly regular RecurringCharacter they mercifully took to referring to only as "Sleuth Dawg".
* ReversibleRoboticizing: Eventually a way to reverse roboticization was discovered, though Bunnie didn't get her organic limbs back until an encounter with Naugus even later as she needed to replace the roboticized limbs with prosthetics before the discovery.
* RobotWar: Technically, usually, since this is Robotnik/Eggman's WeaponOfChoice.
* SeldomSeenSpecies: Maw the Thylacine, anyone?
* ShoutOut: Tons, for just about every fiction franchise on Earth. Most of these can be found in a group shot of AU Tails. [[ShoutOut/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Check out the page]] for a few notable examples.
* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: The comic started off as something of a pastiche of the very silly ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' and the mostly-serious Saturday-morning ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM''. In the beginning, it was more like "[=AoStH=] with the [=SatAM=] characters", but CerebusSyndrome 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.
%%* StuffBlowingUp: Omega prefers this to dumb things like "words" and "diplomacy". So far, he's been pleased.
* SuperMode: Among others, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze, and Scourge can become Super or an equivalent with the Chaos Emeralds/Sol Emeralds/Anarchy Beryls/ect.
%%* TalkativeLoon: Bean.
%%* TerribleTrio: The Hooligans ([[CosmicRetcon formerly]] ''Team'' Hooligan), consisting of [[SmugSnake Nack]], [[MadBomber Bean]], and [[TheVoiceless Bark]].
%%* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Orbot and Cubot, Scratch and Grounder, Bean and Bark to an extent.
%%* TokenEvilTeammate: Team Dark. Shadow's mellowed out, but Rouge is a thief who's in it for herself, and Omega is a SociopathicHero. If Abraham Tower has his back story from the games...
%%** Rouge has softened up considerably post-reboot, though Omega's as sociopathic as ever.
* TotallyRadical: The series consistently billed itself as "The World's Most Way Past Cool Comic!" for twenty years.
%%* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Chili-dogs for Sonic.
* UnwillingRoboticisation: Robotnik turing everyone into robots was a very real and menacing threat for nearly 15 years, before an alien race changed the roboticized citizens back to normal, with the exceptions of Sonic's dad, whose life depended on the installed robotics, and Bunnie, a cyborg, and eliminating the ability ''to'' roboticize someone in the first place. [[spoiler:Thanks to the events of the ''[[CosmicRetcon Genesis]]'' [[CosmicRetcon arc]], Roboticization came back, although the only people vulnerable to it are those who had never been deroboticized by the Bem. Unfortunately, this included Sally, who became its first victim. After the Super Genesis Wave changed everything, Sally was never changed, and it's unclear just what kind of threat roboticization actually poses.]]
* UniverseCompendium: ''The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia''. While having minor flaws, the Encyclopedia is likely the best way to get acquainted with the comic's setting and history. Not surprisingly for a comic going over 200 issues, the Encyclopedia is ''dense'' with information.
* VagueAge: 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.
* VirtualSidekick: NICOLE is an A.I program that slowly gained sentience over time till eventually she managed to conjure enough power to make a anthropomorphic avatar to interact with and help the Freedom Fighters. While she interacts with near all the cast, she's especially close to Sally who was there on the night she took her new hologram form for a test drive (in both the old and rebooted timelines). Sally even goes out of her way to load her mind into a computer to help Nicole fight a virus in the rebooted continuity, refusing to let NICOLE be deleted when the opinion was brought up.
* TheVoiceless: Bark the Polar Bear, Bean's partner in crime, never speaks.
* WhamEpisode: Things generally shake up every twenty-fifth issue.
** Issue 25: Not much of a Wham, unless you count introducing Amy and Metal Sonic. Although the CerebusSyndrome started settling in after this point.
** 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 KilledOffForReal; 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 TimeSkip when he gets back to Mobius.
** Issue 150: It's revealed to the readers that Sonic and Antonie have been replaced by their {{Evil Twin}}s from Moebius. The B-story has Tails stopping Mammoth Mogul from destroying the multiverse.
** Issue 175: The Destruction of Knothole.
** Issue 200: [[spoiler:Eggman's VillainousBreakdown]].
** Issue 225: [[spoiler:The new Death Egg attacks New Mobotropolis, and Sally is gunned down by Eggman]].
** Issue 250: The start of the final act of the Sonic/Mega Man crossover. [[spoiler:Though a true wham would be 251, the final issue of the crossover, where Eggman disrupts Sonic's Chaos Control as he attempts to restore the world, causing some significant changes, and 252, the issue immediately following the crossover, showing the ramifications of Eggman's disrupted CosmicRetcon.]]
** Wham Episodes not on the 25-issue mark include 160 (Anti-Sonic becomes Scourge), 172 (Fiona Fox reveals her FaceHeelTurn), the entire "Enerjak Reborn" arc (180-184), and 219 ([[spoiler:Geoffrey]] pulls a FaceHeelTurn).
** Also offsetting the 25-issue mark are issue 230 (which follows up on the events of 225 as [[spoiler:Sally survives... only to be roboticized.]]), issue 234 (wherein [[spoiler:Antoine is nearly KilledOffForReal, and issue 252 which shows Sonic back home after ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide'', and quickly wraps up numerous subplots in mere pages.]]).
** Issue 256: [[spoiler:The aftershock of the Super Genesis Wave has caused Sonic's planet to explode and ''the entire multiverse to collapse on itself.'']]
* WhamLine:
** Issue 179, when Sonic and Tails are fighting, Tails reveals his reasons for being angry with Sonic:
--->'''Tails:''' So you hooked up with Fiona to help me!?
** Issue 252, after Sonic crash lands back in his reality and sees Tails fighting a giant robot, asks why they [[spoiler:aren't on the Death Egg trying to rescue Sally]]:
--->'''Tails:''' [[spoiler:Rescue Sally?]] [[AsYouKnow We]] came here to [[spoiler:follow-up on Nicole and save King Acorn]]! This thing was already attacking when we arrived!*
---->[-*See ''STH#''[[spoiler:... [[DoubleTake Wait a minute...]]]]-]
* WorldOfBadass
[[/folder]]

!!Tropes applicable to the new continuity:

[[folder:Tropes]]
* AbortedArc: With the cancellation of the comic, many storylines that were set to be followed up on will now never be. To wit:
** Breezie and Honey's deal.
** Wendy looking into finding another conch shell.
** Snively and whatever ulterior motives he had in GUN.
** Where Eclipse and his Dark Arms ended up as they were last seen fleeing Angel Island and crashing into an unknown area.
** Where Silver, Gold and Von Schlemmer wound up after defeating the Second Devourer. As this story was a prequel before Silver meeting Sonic in the new universe was shown, that meeting will never be revealed.
** Some plotlines with a few of the Egg Bosses such as Tundra, Akhlut, Conquering Storm, Maw and Cassia and Clove.
** The Setting Dawn Pirates returning and whatever was in that temple they had found with the Chaotix, Echo and Princess Undina.
** And Eggman trying to re-power his Death Egg with the implication he was going to go to the Lost Hex to acquire energy for it (which likewise in turn would lead to an another encounter with the Deadly Six, the first one was in the World Unite crossover but that was erased at the end of the event) and the threat of a new robotizicer.
* AdaptationalBadass: One of the most striking differences is that the new universe is more full of heroic figures, and both sides are more competent as a whole.
* ApocalypseHow: The multiverse has collapsed. Any alternate universe that existed before the new continuity (except for Blaze's dimension and Mega Man's dimension) has ceased to exist.
** Later, the multiverse gets constituted. However, instead of being a limitless number of variations of Mobius Prime, it is now a multiverse of Sega and Capcom properties.
* BreatherEpisode: The search for the Gaia Temple Keys usually involves exploration and fighting Eggman's forces, but a handful of them are already in relatively safe hands, the the only thing the Freedom Fighters need to do is solve a personal problem, like helping an elderly man reconnect with his family or arranging a birthday dinner.
* BookEnds: For the Shattered World a.k.a ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' adaptation concerning the covers which were pieces of a bigger artwork. The first four issues (''Countdown to Chaos'') were [[http://imgur.com/wrWV7Lu like this]] and the final four issues of the storyline (''Panic in the Sky'') ended [[http://imgur.com/5wVzr83 with this.]]
** In a rather odd meta-twist, the first ''Sonic Universe'' story in the rebooted universe started off with one about pirates (In this case set in Blaze's world along with Amy and Cream) and, due to the cancellation, ''ended'' with a story about pirates (This one focusing on the Chaotix). When asked by a fan on Twitter, Ian stated it was just a rather bizarre coincidence.
* BroadStrokes: After the Super Genesis Wave, most of the video games and at least some of the original timeline happened in the new timeline, but in slightly different ways.
* CoolGate: The Genesis Portals, holes in reality formed from when Eggman botched Super Sonic's Chaos control attempt to restore their world in crossover ''World's Collide''. They can lead to different universes and different time periods.
* GodOfEvil: There are two Dark Gods, Ixis and Dark Gaia. Their domains are so ill-defined that their own worshippers can have trouble telling them apart.
* GottaCatchThemAll: It reaches rather ridiculous extents in ''Unleashed.'' Seven Emeralds, seven gate keys, seven temples, Knuckles' Master Emerald shards...
* HopeSpot: The final arc of the ''Sonic Unleashed'' adaptation, ''Panic in Sky'', starts with the Freedom Fighters having gotten all the Chaos Emeralds and Gaia Keys, sent them on ahead back to the Acorn Kingdom for safe keeping before informing their allies of their success and even thinking they have the element of surprise over Eggman as they get ready to to fix the world. Which they did... [[spoiler:except a newly rebuilt Tails Doll managed to slip into Sky Patrol early into their escapade and monitor their actions while hiding in a vent. It reports back to Eggman who quickly organizes a coordinated sneak attack on both the Sky Patrol and Acorn Kingdom, ending with him getting the keys and emeralds, Chip getting kidnapped and the Sky Patrol shot down.]] Well crap!
* InMediasRes: At the beginning of the reboot, every game with the exception of ''Unleashed'', ''Lost World'' and ''Sonic the Fighters'' has already taken place.
* LaResistance: The Freedom Fighters once again, as well is the myriad new teams that protect their own countries.
* LighterAndSofter: While the comic still has a more mature running, the world it takes place in is much more bright and hopeful compared to its original counterpart. As well, many of the characters still existing have changed for the better.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: When Eggman is explaining to Clove how exactly she's been played while she had initially believed she was playing Eggman, he gets an encoded message reading CNYFLTHSNSHNDSTBRGHTNPYRDY. [[spoiler:[=CaN=] You [=FeeL=] [=THe=] [=SuNSHiNe=] [=DoeS=] [=iT=] [=BRiGHTeN=] [=uP=] [=YouR=] [=DaY=]]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Because Sonic crashed the Egg Carrier in ''Sonic Adventure'', the underwater city's waters spiked in pollution, threatening the lives of the people who live there]].
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: After the ''Worlds Collide'' crossover, pretty much everything about the series changed thanks to Eggman ramming into Sonic as he was trying to fix their universe with Chaos Control.
* TheNthDoctor: Many character designs were changed in the reboot to fit better with the current game designs. Most notable examples are Sally, Antoine, Rotor and Muttski. Justified in-universe, because of [[spoiler:Eggman interfering Super Sonic's world restoration.]]
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: After Sonic inhaled some of Dark Gaia's energy, he becomes a werewolf version of himself, just like its source, ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed''.
* PapaWolf: Eclipse has a...unique personality, including a fierce protectiveness towards the Dark Arms.
-->'''Eclipse:''' What?! They were in the nursery?! I'll hunt them down and rip--\\
'''Black Death:''' The Dark Arms are unharmed.\\
'''Eclipse:''' ''[expression of relief]''
* PortalCrossroadWorld: [[spoiler:It is foreshadowed by Sticks at the end of Worlds Unite where that the all worlds and Genesis portals might be connected by a nexus at the center. The final page shows a mysterious world in space surrounded by Genesis portals and geometric moons/planetoids (slightly hard to tell).]]
* RedHerring: [[spoiler:The people who made the Gaia Temples also made many decoy temples so they don't find the actual temples so easily. Only the Gaia Key Guardians know where the real temples are located]]
* ReTool: The stories following the Mega Man crossover are being created as semi-sequels to games, possibly to ease the new status quo in, as the first major storyline is set to utilize plot points from ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', and the first two storylines in "Sonic Universe" are using elements from ''VideoGame/SonicRushAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog''.
* RippleProofMemory: In the first few storylines in the new universe, Both Sonic and Eggman remember the past world and Sonic is able to give his friends the memories of their past lives. However, these memories faded over time as it was rewritten with memories of the new universe and, as seen with Naugus in the "Shattered" storyline, even the memories of them remembering their past world have disappeared, though Sonic at least remembers the events of ''Worlds Collide.''
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Naugus gets so freaked out over the visions of the original universe that he throws himself out of a window and races into a forest, telling Sonic and Tails they can ''have'' Castle Acorn back.
* StoryBreadcrumbs: While Ian Flynn [[http://www.bumbleking.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7510&start=270#p413075 has the entire post-Super Genesis Wave timeline mapped out from the very first issue,]] he can't reveal the entire thing in the comics, so he'll drop bits and pieces of it as the years go on.
* StrictlyFormula: After getting the Chaos Emeralds during the ''Sonic Unleashed'' adaptation, the search for the Gaia Temples and keys became pretty routine. The Freedom Fighters visit an area, have to confront an Egg Boss in some fashion, find the Temple Guardian and help them out in some way (save them from incarceration, help with a family situation, get them out of a dangerous situation, etc), get the Keys needed, move on. Even some of the opening shots of the issues look similar to each other.
* TagalongKid: Cream, pre-Genesis Wave was a standard member of Team Freedom. Here, she's a junior member frustrated by her exclusion from tougher missions.
* TournamentArc: ''Champions'', which functions as an adaptation of ''VideoGame/SonicTheFighters'', featuring most of the characters from that game.
* TraintopBattle: ''The Chase'' features this.
* UnderwaterCity: Introduced in "Waves of Change,'' the city of Meropis.
* WorldTour: A large part of the ''Unleashed'' story arc is to establish the new or reintroduced characters and countries that exist, most of which are borrowed from Sonic Unleashed.
* WorldWreckingWave: After many Universe-Rewriting-Waves, the planet accumulated enough energy to shatter itself, freeing Dark Gaia monsters from the center of the Earth.
* YouAreTooLate: How issue 256 ends. Robotnik and NICOLE separately realize Möbius is doomed.
-->'''Sonic:''' Whoa—hold on, NICOLE. We save the world all the time!\\
'''Tails:''' Right! What do we do to stop it?\\
'''Orbot:''' Ha! Ha-ha! Good one, Sir. You had me going there, boss. You have a plan, yes? \\
'''Cubot:''' You're a genius! You can fix this, right?\\
'''NICOLE:''' Stop it?\\
'''Robotnik:''' Fix it?\\
'''NICOLE and Robotnik: IT'S TOO LATE!'''
[[/folder]]

!!Tropes applicable to the old continuity:

[[folder:Tropes A-F]]
* AbortedArc: Everything left behind after the reboot. The whole legal trouble with Ken Penders caused Archie to apparently jettison everyone created by former writers out, thus grinding stories to a halt.
* AbusiveParents: Locke, sometimes, though he meant well.
* ActionMom: Lupe, who has two kids, Maria and Marcos, and two more when she adopts Overlanders Ariel and Athena (one of whom is mute).
* ActorAllusion: In one early issue, Sonic encounters a robot based on [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]] and comments that his voice sounds familiar. Creator/JaleelWhite, who played Urkel, also voiced Sonic in the cartoons at the time.
* AdaptationNameChange: Sonic himself was the subject of this trope, as "Sonic" was eventually revealed to be a pseudonym. Only his middle name ("Maurice") was revealed in the comics themselves, although his first name was originally intended to be Olgilvie (before the writer responsible left and everyone else swept the idea under the carpet).
* AfterTheEnd: Yes, believe it or not, Mobius was originally Planet Earth in this verse. But Robotnik's ancestor, Ivan Kintobor, pissed off an alien race after dissecting a peaceful emissary who came to the planet. In retaliation, the aliens bombarded Earth with gene bombs and near wiped out the human race (save a shuttle that was in low orbit at the time). What humans did survive the attack were mutated into Overlanders while most of the animal population became anthropomorphic as a result.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Fiona preferred the "evil" version of Sonic to the real thing, and did a FaceHeelTurn to stay his girlfriend when she found out "Sonic" was really "Scourge". (Well, this is what she ''claims,'' anyway... and this ''is'' [[ConsummateLiar Fiona]] we're talking about...)
* AllThereInTheManual: Several issues before the grand continuity reboot, Archie Comics released "The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia", which houses an ''enormous'' amount of information that was never revealed in the comics themselves (like the fate of Bunnie's parents), and is in general the best guideline to the pre-reboot continuity in a single source. It's only missing a few details from the small handful of issues that came out after it, but before the continuity was rebooted.
* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: 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.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: The Iron Queen. She ''looked'' quite human, but a response in the letters section stated she was actually a badger. Since her reappearance in the "Iron Dominion" arc, she is very obviously human, and Sonic suggested through the FourthWallMailSlot that the letters column had been trolled.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Angel Island was occupied for a time by the [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]]-backed Dingo Regime, whose soldiers not only wore Brown Shirt-esque uniforms, but who imprisoned all captured Echidnas in what were clearly concentration camps.
* AndThenWhat: Shard asks this of Team Fighters in regards to their quest to rescue Sally, upon finding out that they don't really have a plan for de-roboticizing her.
* AnimalGenderBender: Walt Wallaby of the Downunda Freedom Fighters, a ''male'' marsupial, has a pouch.
* AnswerCut: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in issue #124.
* ApologeticAttacker: When Sonic goes to stop the wedding of Sally and Antoine (actually Patch, Antoine's evil Moebius counterpart posing as him) the guards are ordered to stop him. They do, but it's clear they don't want to hurt him and the first even apologizes for the whole affair. They also let him out without any incident when Prince Elias shows up and demands his release.
* ArcWelding:
** Issue 224 revealed that several seemingly unrelated events in the FillerArc following the Iron Dominion's defeat were actually part of Eggman's plan to convert the Eggdome into a new Death Egg. Issue 233 reveals that many of Geoffrey's past actions were actually part of a master plan to place Ixis Naugus on the throne.
** During the "Enerjak Reborn" arc, it was revealed 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).
* ArmedWithCanon: Some of the Penders/Bollers feuding came down to this. Of particular note is the business with Antoine's bizarre [[DarkerAndEdgier behavioral]] [[TookALevelInJerkass change]] after the TimeSkip: Bollers had intended it to be organic growth, and it was the linchpin for several stories planned down the line. Penders {{retcon}}ned it into having been the result of Antoine having been swapped out for his EvilTwin from another dimension.
* ArrangedMarriage: Maximillian and Alicia Acorn. Sally and Anti-Antoine's short marriage was also one of these, until Elias became king and annulled it.
* ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving: In. #77, King Max berates Sonic for frequently disobeying orders up to this point. He soon after acknowledges his frequent rescues and accomplishments, which results in Sonic's knighthood the next issue
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In issue #0 the original mini-series, Robotnik's nameplate listed him as "Supreme Dictator, Industrial Polluter, Megalomaniac, Corrupt Politician, Underhanded Reprobate, Rain Forest Ravenger, [[KickTheDog Puppy Kicker]], [[OverlyLongGag Oil Spill Coordinator, Holiday Hater, Insurance Salesman]]"
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: In issue 175, after Eggman takes his taunts a little too far, Sonic has a break in his sanity and races from somewhere near the west coast of the continent to the east coast and back, ramming directly into Eggman's battle robot, in a matter of seconds. The attack merely dents the shield because the robot was tailor-made to fight Sonic and counter his abilities. The problem is that since the fight happens in what's essentially a future version of North America, Sonic crossed hundreds of miles -nearly a thousand- in seconds. Therefore, Sonic would be going somewhere between 200,000 and '''''half a million miles an hour'''''- something Eggman wasn't aware that Sonic could do and obviously never factored into the robot's design. Sonic's friends destroy it. Knuckles' punches probably don't hit that hard.
* ArtStyleDissonance: Jon Gray's pencils are cartoony and hyper-exaggerated. It works great for silly stories, but dramatic stories? ''Not so much.''
* {{Ascended Extra}}s: The [[{{Mook}} Badniks]] from the first two Sonic games were major characters early on.
* AsYouKnow: Among others, the "dragons can't lie" plot point in Endgame, never mentioned before or since.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Titan Metal Sonic attacking New Mobotropolis during the fallout of the Genesis Arc in issue #231.
* TheAtoner: Dimitri, following his HeelFaceTurn. Knuckles also had elements of this after his stint as Enerjak.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The Battle Bird Armada's Battle Lord. Likewise, his son and heir, Speedy.
* AuthorTract: Ken Penders' run had tones of this. Penders had a very active fixation on gun control laws and gun safety which he brought into the comic aggressively (which made little sense given the vast majority of the characters never used them in the first place) going so far as to turn accidental gun use as the whole reason for the plot-driving war to start.
* AxeCrazy:
** Rosy the Rascal, Amy's counterpart on Moebius. She's so in love with Scourge, [[MadLove 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.
* BackForTheDead: Hey, it's Sir Connery from back before "Endgame"! Anybody remember him? ...no? [[HeroicSacrifice Well never mind...]]
* BackToFront: Issue #71
* BadassMustache: Dr. Robotnik/Eggman.
* BadFuture:
** Silver comes from a time [[AfterTheEnd after some cataclysm destroyed the world]], leaving only isolated pockets of civilization.
** And the ''X Years Later'' stories were a BadFuture when [[KnightTemplar King Shadow]] was running things.
** [[spoiler:And the future where Dr. Eggman came from, which he decided to ''nuke'' before heading to Mobius Prime.]]
** And then there's ''another'' future, first mentioned in issue 106 and later featured in a ''Sonic Universe'' story arc called "Fractured Mirror". [[spoiler:This world is ruled by Knuckles as a darker version of his old enemy Enerjak. Knuckles hunts down the single pocket of life that remains, a group of Freedom Fighters led by his own daughter.]]
*** Although thankfully these have been dealt with [[note]][[spoiler:King Shadow was overthrown, Knuckles was defeated and de-powered in the ''Fractured'' world, and due to Eggman's actions at the end of the crossover, Silver's was averted thanks to the universe getting a reboot. It's also likely that the nuked Mobius was revived since that future was derived from stories made by Ken Penders, which have been removed, again, thanks to the reboot.]][[/note]]
* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: 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 [[OhCrap almost wets his pants]].
* TheBadGuyWins: Before he became Dr. Eggman, Robo-Robotnik managed to finally gather the bits needed to build the Giant Borg, built a physical body for himself with them, take control of armed nukes and used them to wipe out the ex-cyborg Freedom Fighters, leaving his Mobius in his control. Then he thought that VictoryIsBoring and invaded Mobius Prime to "fill the void".
* TheBaroness: Lien-Da. She even has a [[WhipItGood whip]]!
* {{Bathos}}: The earliest comics in the series liberally used this. Aside from the basic setup of "Robotnik has already conquered Mobius, roboticized most of its population and is only opposed by a tiny group of Freedom Fighters", they did not take themselves seriously at all, and the comics made frequent pop culture references, [[HurricaneOfPuns puns]], [[ZanyCartoon outright impossible cartoony actions]] and [[NoFourthWall frequent fourth wall breaks]] with little to none of the stronger characterization or worldbuilding that would come to define the comics. While the later comics still had similar comedic elements (a good example of is when Sonic and Sally revisit the burned out remains of Knothole Village, an otherwise melancholy scene punctuated by a CallBack gag where two nearby trees--which were established in a very early story as being able to communicate through thought bubbles--are shown to still be around and are able to humorously comment on the situation to each other despite being burned to a crisp), they were far more reigned in than the tales that kicked off the series.
* BigBadWannabe: Evil Sonic before he [[TookALevelInBadass became Scourge]]. And Snively's an even better example - he successfully [[TheStarscream killed off Robotnik]] only to quickly become Eggman's today instead, and even after [[spoiler: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".
* BirthmarkOfDestiny: Edmund, the first Guardian of Angel Island, had a white crescent birthmark on his chest, a trait that would carry over to every guardian to follow him, including Knuckles.
* BizarroUniverse: Anti-Mobius/[[MeaningfulRename Moebius]]. Not only are the characters in it morally-flipped versions of main-universe ones, Jules and Scourge discuss the opposing histories. Mobius had the Great War, which eventually led to [[TheResistance all the heroes of the world fighting a single great evil.]] Moebius had the Great Peace, which had "stagnated and fallen apart" in ten years [[CrapsackWorld with everyone doing their own part to destroy the world.]]
* BoldInflation: The comic used to be very, ''very'' bad about this.
* BodyguardBetrayal: 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.
* BookEnds:
** Issues ''225'' and ''230'', with the titles ''One Step Forward...'' and ''...Two Steps Back''.
** The ultimate fate of the echidna race pre-reboot: Multiple factions ended up in pocket zones to due attacks from enemies [[note]]The Dingoes once ravaged Angel Island's surface with nukes[[/note]] or because they were deemed too dangerous by their enemy[[note]]Steppenwolf banished the Dark Legion to the Twilight Zone(not that one)[[/note]]. [[spoiler:The residents of Albion were attacked by the Egg Legion, and Thrash felt that the echidnas would bring the world to ruin if left unchecked.]]
** One of the first enemies Sonic fought in the original continuity was [[spoiler:the Krudzu Plant]]. One of the last opponents Sonic faced is [[spoiler:the plant's stronger form, Krudzu Hybrid Hydra]]. Incidentally, this Book Ends happens immediately after the above.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy:
** 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 [[spoiler:G.U.N. Commander Hugo Brass]].
* BreakTheCutie: 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 [[UnstoppableRage "a woman scorned"]]...
* BreakingTheFourthWall:
** 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 [[LawyerFriendlyCameo implied]] to be real comics as well. No, it doesn't make any sense.
** Also falling into this category is Eggman's [[TalkativeLoon 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.
%%* BreakingSpeech: Sonic's dad does an ''epic'' one towards Scourge in issue 192.
%%* TheBrigadier: Commander Abraham Tower.
%%* BroughtDownToNormal: Chaos Knuckles turning to regular Knuckles in #125, and [[spoiler:Bunnie being deroboticized]] in #232.
* CListFodder: Much of Ian Flynn's first year was spent rounding up and exterminating these by the truckload.
%%* CainAndAbel: Lien-Da and Julie-Su.
* CallBack: ''Sonic Universe'' #36 references the A.D.A.M. arc when [[VideoGame/SonicRiders Babylon Garden's Master Core ABIS]] mentions that the AI had discovered the Garden and tried to use its wormhole generator to bring the Chaos Emeralds from around the galaxy to Mobius, but was unable to without the Garden's power source/key.
%%* CastingAShadow: This seems to be a common ability for Ixis wizards, as both Naugus and [[spoiler:Geoffrey]] have it.
%%* CatFight: A really, really blatant one was set up between Bunnie and Rouge.
* CerebusSyndrome: Although based on the more serious ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' cartoon, 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, and it remained that way through the beginning of Ian Flynn's run on issue 160. Subtly pointed out by Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal; when they first appeared in #2, they were wacky and whimsical characters, always playing around and [[RealityWarper changing the laws of physics of their dimension for kicks]]. When we run into them in #59, it turns out the Ultimate Annihilator destroyed their home, they blamed each other during the rebuild, and they turned into giant robots in a never-ending war against each other.
%%* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: 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 {{Retcon}}ned or reversed... Happened to her [[{{Xenafication}} in reverse]] over the early issues. Sally grew more competent due to a combination of CerebusSyndrome, bringing her characterization more in line with ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'', 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.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder:
%%** Snively has this problem and everyone knows it.
** Being evil doubles of the main characters, most of the people from Moebius 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, [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere they switched right back to Mogul's side]].
%%** Lien-Da also has shades of this.
%%* ClearMyName: The "Mecha Madness" and "Endgame" storylines.
* ColonCancer: 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."
* CompulsorySchoolAge: Inverted. After her PlotRelevantAgeUp, Amy still has to go to school with Tails and the other children, because despite having a teenager's body, they know [[YoungerThanSheLooks what age she really is]].
* ContinuityCameo:
** Bean and Bark got a few of one-off appearances 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 ''VideoGame/{{Astal}}'', a UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn video game character he was apparently very fond of.
** Characters from ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' cameoed in a non-canon Sonic the Hedgehog issue.
* ContinuitySnarl: Trying to fit ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' 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.
** The ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' snarl was particularly nasty, as it involved taking what had been (until then) a relatively archaic world with violent humanoids and trying to force half of the cast into an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent scenario ''and'' trying to introduce humans that were somehow completely different in personality than the ones met formerly without getting rid of the underlying HumansAreTheRealMonsters subtext.
* CorruptedData:
** In one issue, Shadow retrieves a disk that contains files from Gerald Robotnik about his true purpose. However, the disk is damaged by a Badnik attack and the thing was already 50 years old, so it was starting to decay badly. NICOLE is able to rebuild it enough for Shadow to get his answers, though.
** In #165, the robot ISAAC was revealed to have corrupted data from centuries of wear, though not all of it was corrupted. It also reveals that the person he was protecting for centuries since the Xorda attack, Dr. Robotnkik's ancestor Ivan Kintorbor, is dead.
%%* CrashIntoHello: Sonic and Mina do it at one point, although they already knew each other by then.
* CreativeSterility: Part of what drove the fighting between the Dingos and Echidnas. The Dingos were more adept at scavenging already created tech rather than developing their own.
-->'''Hawking:''' They weren't innovators. They couldn't conceptualize! They could only copy and adapt that which they learned from others!
%%* CreepyDoll: "Project Deadly Cudddles". [[spoiler:Yes, it took a while, but it seems that [[VideoGame/SonicR Tails Doll]] is finally going to force some [[MemeticMutation sunshine]] on this comic.]]
%%* CriminalAmnesiac: Sonic in issue #28.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Eggman's battle suit in issues #175-7 was specifically designed to outmatch Sonic, which it proceeded to do marvelously. When the ''rest'' of the Freedom Fighters got to take it on, it went down in a matter of ''panels''.
* {{Crossover}}: One with the Creator/ImageComics superheroes, another with ''ComicBook/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''.
** CrisisCrossover: ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide''
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Echidnas have a holy book known as "The Tomes." Knuckles mother is seen praying in an Aurorium, a place filled with stained glass windows and dedicated to the worship of Aurora. They also have a prophecy frotelling the arrival of "The Avatar" and a "Lost Tribe" wandering the face of the planet in search of a "Promised Land." Knuckles' Great Grandfather acts as a spiritual leader for the tribe and is known as a "Mitre" or prophet. He is also known to commune with powerful incorporeal beings that only he can see.
* CultureClash:
** Overlanders versus Mobians and Echidnas versus Dingoes.
** Heck, Echidnas versus Echidnas, too.
* CurbStompBattle:
** Silver Sonic was a hulking machine, completely invincible to Sonic's attacks and almost knocked Sonic unconscious with a single punch! Fortunately for true blue, it knocked open some of the Death Egg's internal wiring, which he quickly used to short-circuit the robot.
** In his second comic appearance, it used the Master Emerald to become invincible to Sonic's attacks. It took Super Sonic to destroy him.
* CurseCutShort:
** A particularly infamous example in issue #165:
--->'''Julie-Su:''' Let me go, you b--\\
'''Rouge:''' ''[kicks Julie-Su in the stomach]'' Bat. Remember it.
** Not to mention the innumerable "What the--?"s and "What in--?"s.
* {{Cyborg}}: Bunnie, and her children in the "X Years Later" storyline. The Dark Legion are a group of Echidnas who love to replace their organic body parts with mechanical ones.
* DarkActionGirl: Fiona, Princess Alicia, Lien-Da, Buns, Rosy the Rascal, Conquering Storm, and Julie-Su back when she was a Dark Legionnaire.
* DarkestHour: 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.
* [[DarkSkinnedRedhead Dark Furred Redhead]]: Sally and her family.
* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Dimitri was quickly drained of his Enerjak power and left decrepit. The Dark Legion was forced to turn him into a cyborg to keep him alive. Dr. Finitivus, seeking to learn the power of Enerjak, disassembled him, leaving him as just a head in a floating bubble.
* DartboardOfHate: A heroic example. The Freedom Fighters set up their old Knothole base and in their downtime Ray can be seen throwing darts at a board with Eggman's face attatched to it in issue 175.
* DatingCatwoman: Rouge tried to invoke this trope with Knuckles, much to Julie-Su's annoyance.
** Also, one [[WhatCouldHaveBeen 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.
* DaysOfFuturePast: See FeudalFuture.
* DeadlyDodging: How Sonic wins the first fight we see him in.
* DeaderThanDead: Being the successful target of Robotnik Prime's Ultimate Annihilator, which is capable of destroying ''the very particles'' of its target. Said target ended up being Robotnik himself. And then the CosmicRetcon literally erased him from ever existing at all in the new universe...
* DeathByChildbirth: Snively's mother. There's a lot of speculation that his father hated him for it. [[FreudianExcuse Could explain a lot]].
* DeathFromAbove: How Eggman ultimately destroyed Knothole.
* DefectingForLove: What happened with Julie-Su and Knuckles. Made even stronger when it's revealed that Julie-Su is [[spoiler:one of Dimitri's descendants.]]
* DefectorFromDecadence: While they're not full on evil Big abandoned his people, the Felidae, due to their xenophobic and barbaric traditions, which really didn't gel with his laidback, friendly personality. Because of this he's considered an exile in their lands, meaning he's in just as much danger of taking a spear to the face there as anyone else.
* DemotedToExtra: Rotor Walrus has been hit hard with this, he started out as a strong fixture in the Freedom Fighters, then got kicked into this position after issue #125, in fact his jacked-up importance and WordOfGay relationship in the "Mobius: 25 Years Later" storyline was meant by previous head writer Ken Penders as a way of moving him out of extra status and giving him a much-needed jolt of CharacterDevelopment. Sadly, when current head writer Ian Flynn took over, he was beaten back down to this spot ''violently'', in both the main comic and the "M:25YL" storyline for quite some time. He eventually regained some prominence when he joined the Royal Council and later made himself a high-tech suit, but not until he'd been largely unseen for several years.
** A group of characters called "The Substitute Freedom Fighters" faded out of relevance soon after their introduction. Currently, they were brought back as councilors on the royal council. One of them, Hamlin, was angry enough about his treatment that he joined the council out of spite for the Freedom Fighters.
** Knuckles has also been demoted heavily since his own spin off comic series ended, likely due to his life on Angel Island making it harder to focus alongside the Freedom Fighters down on Mobius.
** Interestingly, Sonic himself was affected by this - after the Knuckles comic got cancelled, Sonic was limited to mostly being stuck in Knothole following the ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' adaptation, with Knuckles and Tails getting a lot of the screen time and action in their backup stories, due to a case of CreatorsPet.
** A lot of this is {{Lampshade}}d in the "Off-Panel" comic strips at the end of the ''Sonic Universe'' comics, from Knuckles flipping out over the title not exactly being his to Charmy commenting that if he was going to show up in a storyline, it would be here.
* DerailingLoveInterests: A problem the comic had, along with the RomanticPlotTumor. Cliff Notes version: Sonic and Sally were always in a WillTheyOrWontThey plot until Mina Mongoose was introduced, then became a ThirdWheel for about a dozen issues before Sonic and Sally hooked up... for all of five issues before Sally broke up with Sonic and he found himself being slung around to every other girl around before stopping with Fiona, who then broke up with him to go with his EvilTwin Scourge. ''Then'', after Sally spent some time with Monkey Khan, they finally rehook back up... only for Sally to get roboticized.
* {{Determinator}}: When Enerjak comes to take his revenge on Knuckles he tries all sorts of things to break his spirits, from teleporting him to the moon, to the bottom of the ocean, to dropping him from 30,000 meters in the air, but Knuckles will ''not'' break.
* DeusExMachina:
** The Ancient Walkers would often function as such. [[spoiler:It even gets [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Sonic, who in the aftermath of the Darkest Storm arch, during which the Ancient Walkers met their demise at the hands of Mammouth Mogul, asks who the Freedom Fighter will turn to now if they are ever need in of a Deus ex Machina.]]
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue when they need something to free NICOLE from her MindControl. Their choice falls on the Particle-to-Light Organizer and Transporter Device. Don't get it? [[spoiler:PLOT device.]]
* DevilInPlainSight: Mammoth Mogul's current status. What this means for his [[spoiler:future status as Silver's mentor]] is currently unknown.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Omega in Universe #4.
-->'''Omega:''' I ''enjoy'' Plan B!
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Eggman admits [[spoiler:attacking Sonic while he was using Chaos Control]] was "a bit hasty". He reconsiders that position when [[spoiler:[[OhCrap he spots a]] ''[[OhCrap gigantic purple crack]]'' [[OhCrap on the surface of the planet]].]]
* DifferingPrioritiesBreakup: This is was led to Sonic and Sally's breakup.
** Sally had thought that Sonic had sacrificed himself during the Xorda attack. She was left in the sidelines with the rest of the family while her fellow Freedom Fighters continued their battle against Eggman. A year later, Sonic returns, alive and well and they couldn't be happier. Sometime later, Sally decides to get Sonic to rule by her side while her parents rally more people for the war. Sonic, however, hesitantly declines, because he wants to end the war before settling down. Sally's response: An [[ArmorPieceringSlap brutal slap to the face]] and calling him selfish. In front of everyone! After an argument, Sally gives him an ultimatum: Eggman or her, and she leaves him before he could answer. She wouldn't make the breakup official until a few issues later. It would take a few score issues later to mend their friendship, and sometime post-#200 to become a could again.
* DiminishingVillainThreat: Taken to the logical conclusion with Eggman in the 200th issue.
** Ixis Naugus has a funny relationship with this trope. In his first appearance, he was portrayed as a strong force worthy of being feared. He had powers that could control the weather and the movement of the earth, and he forced Sonic and Tails into a wild goose chase around the world. Later, he was downgraded to Mogul's servant and was driven insane. He became a major antagonist again, but his paranoia leads to him simply abandoning his plots for Mobotropolis.
* DirtyCoward: No real shocker that [[MeaningfulName Snively]] is one of these.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The Xorda. It's not a good idea to piss them off. Or be at all [[SinsOfOurFathers genetically related]] to anyone who may have pissed them off ''several millenia ago''.
* DoesntLikeGuns: Ostensibly, the Kingdom of Acorn had a strict "No guns" policy after a previous war was started because two kids were playing with a gun. In practice, this is a DependingOnTheWriter situation -- 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.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The animosity between the Dingoes and the Echidnas is almost an exact analogy for the UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict. Who plays who is just as much [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation up to interpretation]].
* DoomMagnet: Nate Morgan, arguably.
* TheDragon:
** 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 CoDragons as well, since they're all equally ranked and report directly to Eggman.
** 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 [[VillainousBreakdown 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 had one of his own in Geoffrey.
** Following the events of "Genesis", Eggman gained a new chief enforcer in Mecha Sally.
* DragonAscendant: 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.
* DragonLady: The Iron Queen. Although technically, she's not native to that region.
* DrivenToSuicide: Antoine fakes this when Bunnie fakes defecting to the Battle Bird Armada in SU #18, [[DestinationDefenestration defenestrating himself from a high hatch into the sea]].
* DudeWheresMyRespect: 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. Except Sally because she's royalty. Sonic was kind of bitter about it.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The early comics were very comedic in tone and often even stranger than what came later, with lots of [[NoFourthWall fourth wall demolition]], BetterThanABareBulb gags, and [[HurricaneOfPuns enough puns to make]] ''WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil'' proud. This was more due to following ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' and using a few video game stages in the early days. Also, Dave Manak and Michael Gallagher were the primary artist and writer respectively, both of whom had a more zany cartoonish style than their successors. Sally was seen with varying colors of fur (red fur with blonde hair in her first appearance, pink fur with black hair up until issue #16 [[note]]this was referenced in a one-page story way back in issue #3[[/note]] and Rotor was known as "Boomer" until about issue #6. Roboticization was presented differently, with people with hypnotized eyes instead of out and out robots. The series wouldn't reach the ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' levels until Dulcy showed up in issue 28 and a few characters will still seem odd looking back at them (for instance, look at Metal Sonic in issue #25, then look at him later on). Once other artists and writers began to take over (although Gallagher and Manak never fully left), the art style and overall tone became [[CerebusSyndrome comparatively more serious]] for the most part.
** This also extends to its video game tie-ins. Prior to the ContinuityReboot, video game events were done in BroadStrokes; for instance, ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog3'' was adapted in issue #13 as Robotnik and Snively stranded on the Floating Island, stealing its singular Chaos Emerald without the Death Egg showing up at all (it wouldn't show up in the comics for another two years). After the ContinuityReboot, it was stated that all video games, with the exceptions of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', ''VideoGame/SonicTheFighters'' and ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'' are canon and happened the way they did in the games.
** The characters' personalities were also vastly different at first. Sally acted like a total brat at times with a massive NeverMyFault attitude while Antoine was very much a CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkey. Like his ''[=SatAM=]'' counterpart, Snively was initially very loyal to Robotnik and wouldn't become TheStarscream until ''The Death Egg Saga''.
* EatsBabies: The Cat People from the ''Sonic Adventure'' adaption outright tell the Chaotix that they eat our young if they get out of line.
* EarthquakesCauseFissures:
** One of the early comics had Robotnik evacuate Robotropolis because he discovered a massive earthquake was about to hit; when it did, it [[SceneryGorn 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.
* EasilyCondemned: Robotnik has rather handily succeeded in framing Sonic for treachery more than once. Granted these were often very elaborate acts of deception, but surely Sonic's closest friends at the very least should have known better, especially considering they've frequently seen what elaborate forms of deception Robotnik is capable of themselves.
* EasyAmnesia: At least once.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Knothole in its original form was sometimes portrayed as one.
* ElementNumberFive: Originally, [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway Power Rings]], however, with the Ixis wizards making a return, it appears that this is replaced with [[CastingAShadow something much Darker.]]
* EldritchAbomination: The Tails Doll.
* EliteMooks: High-grade members of Eggman's Badnik Horde are designated "Super-Badniks", and all of them encountered so far have proven tough enough to give our heroes a serious challenge.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Word of God says Sonic's was supposed to be Olgilvie.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Sonic's was said to be Maurice. It's since been considered non-canon.
* EnemyMine:
** Happens with such frequency that Sonic's begun to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] it. The heroes have, at various junctures, teamed up with Eggman, 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 [[AlienInvasion 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.
* EngineeredHeroics: {{Deconstructed}}. At one point Sonic sets up a plan to help Antoine impress his father by dressing up as his own EvilTwin 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.)
* ExplainExplainOhCrap: In issue 247, after yet another building in New Mobotropolis collapses due to something interfering with the [[{{Nanomachine}} nanites]], Cream, after finding the Tails Doll, chews it out over its tendency to disappear... and in mid-sentence, recalls that its previous disappearances have corresponded with the other instances of buildings unexpectedly going unstable, and deduces that the doll itself is responsible. Her [[OhCrap expression]] when this dawns on her says it all.
-->'''Cream''': Bad dolly! I'm trying to take care of you and find your owner, and you keep disappearing! ...Like at the Forget-Me-Knots concert. And this is just like what happened at the civic center...
* EveryoneHasStandards: For all of Eggman's atrocious crimes against humanity, Sonic himself was left very unnerved when he finally [[VillainousBreakdown "broke"]] him after one too many humiliating defeats. Reducing the doctor to a drooling sobbing maniac was not quite the way he envisioned taking him down.
* TheEveryman: The original Freedom Fighters evolved this way over the years, being more understated and "normal" than the cast from the video games. After the Super Genesis Wave, this seems to have reverted.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: 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.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Fiona's is a vast improvement, and capitalizes on EvilIsSexy.
* EvilerThanThou:
** Mammoth Mogul gives Dimitri-as-Enerjak the treatment in Knuckles #9, as he {{Depower}}s 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."
** Teaming up with the [[MonsterOfTheWeek villain du jour]] and winding up on the losing end of this was also [[EvilTwin anti-Sonic's]] second most common gimmick (the most common, of course, being the instigator of ClearMyName plots), although that changed after [[TookALevelInBadass he got a new look]].
* EvilTwin:
** Everyone from Anti-Mobius who isn't based on someone who's already evil. 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.[[note]]He speaks with an Irish accent, for some reason.[[/note]] 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!'''
* ExplosiveLeash: 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.
* EyepatchOfPower: Several characters, including Dr. Quack, Amadeus Prower, and Patch.
* FaceHeelTurn: Sleuth Dog and Fiona Fox play it straight. Later, Geoffrey St. John switches sides -- though it turns out Geoffrey didn't actually ''switch'' at all; he'd been working for Naugus since [[TheMole before he was introduced]].
* FakeDefector:
** Dimitri, when he joins Robotnik. He lampshades it.
--->"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.
* FakingTheDead: ''Humans''. For the longest time, all that seemed to be left of humanity (or the closest physiology) was the Overlanders. As it turns out, old school humans had managed to set up a series of hidden cities prior to the Xorda attack, allowing them to survive. They were literally hiding for thousands of years.
* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: Hope is momentarily pleased to hear Snively tell her he's discovered they are half-siblings, not step-siblings as they believed, and that he wants her to be part of his family. However, his offer of a big happy family quickly devolves into a rose-tinted vision of world domination, reminding her that he's still wicked to the core.
* FantasticDrug: In a few issues of ''Knuckles the Echidna'' a substance called Lemon Sundrop Dandelion was hidden in hot dogs at an amusement park. After eating the dog most characters would begin tripping balls, though Charmy's friend Mello died of an overdose and Charmy himself almost did as well.
* FantasticRacism:
** The Echidnas, who became the first to be civilized, looked down on everyone. Still did until Eggman wiped most of their population out and Thrash tossed the rest into another Zone.
** Overlanders, four-fingered humans, were shown to be incredibly war-like and bloodthirsty aginst the furry mobians. It's obvious both Robotniks did nothing to improve that image.
*** A handful of Mobians, including Geoffrey St. John, are pretty harsh towards friendlier Overlanders like Nate Morgan.
** Machines in particular. Naugus, on two separate instances, gleefully ramped up the Mobian's hate of machines, leading to a brief Civil War between Mobians and Robians (roboticized Mobians) and the AI NICOLE being temporarily exiled.
** 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.
** 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.
** We learn through a flashback in "The Trial Of [[spoiler:Gefforey St. John]]" that [[spoiler:Ixis Naugus was able to convince Gefforey into becoming his student by playing off of Gefforey's resentment of Overlanders (Gefforey's father was a soldier in [[GreatOffscreenWar the Great War]] and was killed by Overlanders during a mission).]] It would seem that Mobian/Overlander hatred may not be entirely gone yet.
* FantasticNatureReserve: An early one issue plot of Sonic the Hedgehog has a misguided intergalatic collector who captures the Freedom Fighters, Robotnik and Snively and put them in one of these. He collect them for their UniquenessValue, and while he provides a safe place for them, he is compared to a kid who collects ants in an ant farm, even seen tapping on the glass of his reserve when tech-loving Robotnik seems to be acting lazy and not at all responsive to the provided unpolluted nature style environment. He mends his ways and returns them back when Robotnik breaks free and ejects the collector from his ship and the Freedom Fighters rescues him from going adrift in space.
* FantasticVoyagePlot: Issue #33's main story, Sonic must shrink down and enter Rotor's body to fight off robotic germs.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The entire planet.
** The Southern Baronies is basically the American South, but with anthropomorphic rabbits. To draw the parallels further, their militia wore gray uniforms, and sought independence from the Kingdom of Acorn.
** Mercia [[note]]or Avalon in the new continuity[[/note]] is basically RobinHood England.
** The United Federation is a [[HiddenElfVillage Hidden Human]] United States.
** The Dragon Kingdom is basically a mash-up of Feudal Japan and Imperial China.
** Downunda [[note]]or Tralius in the new continuity[[/note]] is obviously an Australia stand-in.
* FantasyKitchenSink
* FauxAffablyEvil: Finitevus is one of the most urbane {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s you're ever likely to meet. All the better to contrast with [[NoSocialSkills Knuckles]], of course. Eggman has shades of this, too.
* TheFederation: United Federation, a federal constitutional republic which is an ally of the Kingdom of Acorn and a major player in the Second Robotnik War, ever since the Freedom Fighters saved Station Square, the capital city, from Chaos.
* FeudalFuture: Elias tried to give the people some more power, but the entire universe collapsing in on itself put a stop to that nonsense and placed his father back in power.
* FiveManBand: Several, including the various Freedom Fighter groups, the Chaotix, the Secret Service, the Destructix, the Suppression Squad...
* {{Flanderization}}: An aversion may come from the early comics, which had a much zanier and cartoony format thus exaggerated a lot of the characters' traits compared to their ''[=SatAM=]'' counterparts, e.g. Sonic existed as a KarmicTrickster with a TotallyRadical mannerisms akin to his ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog AoStH]]'' counterpart, Sally's somewhat neurotic and no-nonsense attitude was exaggerated into a spoiled, mean-tempered prude and Robotnik was converted into even bigger a bumbling CardCarryingVillain than his "Eggman" incarnations. This was reversed as the comic's writing tone became more serious and akin to the show, though some genuine cases of flanderization do pop up on occasion.
%%* FlashForward: The "X Years Later" storylines.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Moebius story arc gave a few:
** Boomer, while reinventing himself, decided to make himself into an cyborg. When Rotor decided to become an active Freedom Fighter again after suffering a crippling back injury, he had NICOLE make him a suit of nanite armor.
** Buns, the Anti-Bunnie, developed a lethal disease and was abandoned by the Suppression Squad, causing her to seek help from Dr. Kintobor who gave her a mechasuit that staved off her illness. Bunnie would later lose her robotic limbs thanks to Naugus's magic and lost her ability to fight as a result, causing her to abandon the Freedom Fighters. [[spoiler:If the story had continued, Bunnie would have willingly gone through legionization to get her robotic limbs back, possibly becoming the traitor Silver warned about.]]
** Patch, the Anti-Antoine, originally wore an eyepatch just to look cool. During Scourge's conquest of Moebius, the hedgehog made sure that Patch's namesake [[EyeScream served its purpose]]. [[spoiler:After being severely injured by Metal Sonic, Antoine's facial bandaging covers his right eye, suggesting that he would have lost it if the reboot hadn't happened.]]
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: The goddess Aurora looked like whatever those who saw her imagined her to look like. To Knuckles, she looked like an echidna.
%%* FreakyFridayFlip: Sonic and Knuckles in ''Sonic Super Special #12''.
%%* FreudianExcuse: Fiona's abandonment issues have definitely played a major role in shaping her pscyhe.
%%* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: A few of the Freedom Fighters, despite being a close unit, never had a distinct interaction with each other.
* FunnyAnimal: Though they do retain some traits of their animal origins. Oddly enough, most sea creatures remain the same.
* FurryConfusion: Muttski is a non-anthropomorphic dog: he walks on all fours, can't talk, and is treated as a pet... but Mobius also contains FunnyAnimal dogs, like Sleuth Dawg. The continuity caused by the Super Genesis Wave changed Muttski so he was a normal FunnyAnimal like everyone else.
* FusionDance:
** Upon his destruction, Gamma's "soul" was downloaded into Omega's mind, fusing their thoughts together and granting Omega the ability to feel proper emotion.
%%** Tikhaos is a fusion of Tikal and Chaos.
** Titan Tails was made from many versions of Tails fusing together.
** The last three remaining Ixis wizards, excluding Mogul, traveled to the sun in an attempt to harness the [[PlayingWithFire elemental power of fire]], and in the process somehow fused together, creating Ixis Naugus.
* FutureBadass: Somewhat averted with Silver. He's quite capable, but he's also a bit too inexperienced and naive, which leads to him making mistakes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes G-L]]
* GenderEqualsBreed: The only exception is Jon, the son of Rob O'Hedge and Mari-An. Despite being male, he is an Echidna like his mom. [[AllThereInTheManual The Sonic Encyclopedia explains this]]; when Mobians of two different species pair up they typically result in twins -- a boy with his father's breed and a girl with her mother's. Single born hybrids are extremely rare, with traits leaning mostly towards one breed, regardless of gender, with a notable trait of the other.
%%* GeneralRipper: Depending on which side of the fence you're on, General Helmut von Stryker. His son Kage definitely qualifies.
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: The Xorda take this to its logical conclusion by having a genetic engineering weapon that functions very much like a nuke. Said weapon also served as the backstory for the planet.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere:
** Feist, the 200-foot mystical panda who inhabited the Special Zone and intermittently [[ThirdPersonPerson talks in the third person]].
** Tikhaos, a fusion of Tikal and Chaos.
* TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin: Sonic and co. ''always'' defeat the bad guys in the end, no exceptions. Sega even has a mandate that Sonic is never allowed to suffer a long term defeat in the comic--even if [[TeamRocketWins Eggman manages to get the upper hand on occasion]], Sonic must immediately defeat him in the next story.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Snively plays hockey with Sonic in issue #33.
%%* AGodAmI: Every Enerjak, Feist, Mammoth Mogul...
* GrandFinale: #47-50 were meant to finish the series, but the comic's sales numbers back at that time meant that an cancellation was not coming anytime soon and so the series continued. When it came to the real "ending" of the comic, this was ultimately averted with the comic simply ceasing publishing at part 3 of a 4 part Anniversary Special, and then getting unceremoniously cancelled six months later.
* GrandTheftMe: Naugus eventually possessed Geoffrey's body to escape the BodyHorror consuming his own.
%%* GratuitousNinja: Uma Arachnis and her children, the Arachne. Espio - in accordance with his redesign in ''Sonic Heroes'' - and Lightning Lynx were retroactively named as members of the Four Houses of the Dragon Kingdom, a group of ninja clans, alongside Uma.
%%** Sonic tried to invoke this when he dressed up as "The Sneak".
%%* GreatGazoo: Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal, at least in their first appearance.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Prior to the reboot, this was something of a toss-up as characters' state of dress varied (SEGA-types tend to go with their canon design, [=SatAM=]/[=AoStH=]-types with their canon design and original characters tend to be fully dressed). Post-reboot, everyone goes SEGA-standard, meaning guys wear, at least, shoes and gloves while girls are fully dressed.
* HappilyMarried: Bunnie & Antoine, Bernie & Jules, Amadeus & Rosemary Prower, Elias & Meg, Max & Alicia.
* HappinessInSlavery: According to the Encyclopedia, the Nerbs enjoy how rigid Eggman's oppression is, and many willingly joined the Dark Egg Legion.
* HatePlague: One of the tools in Ixis Naugus' repertoire.
* HeartbrokenBadass: For a variable definition of "badass" (considering he and his team's absolutely dismal fight record), Lightning Lynx in SU#15.
** On the other end of the spectrum, Bunnie between issues 130 and 156, to the point of {{Chickification}}.
* HeelFaceTurn: Dr. Robotnik, once. It didn't stick. Long-term baddie Dimitri switched sides after the Iron Dominion arc.
* HellBentForLeather: Dark Legionnaire Lien-Da is usually shown wearing some sort of leather outfit. And wielding [[WhipItGood a whip]].
* HeroicBSOD:
** Sonic when he realizes that he drove Eggman insane thanks to Snively's BreakingSpeech. However, the writers quickly push this under a rug. It counts 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 was on the brink of one; what with almost the whole population of New Mobotropolis having turned against her, and [[spoiler:Sally's sacrifice]], she was barely able to function and unable to face what few friends she has left.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** There have been a few over the years, with Tommy Turtle and Locke being the biggest examples.
** Before the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide crossover]], Sally and Antoine; the former to the world roboticizer and the latter while protecting Elias. [[spoiler:Thanks to the events of the crossover, they're back to normal.]]
* HeroicComedicSociopath: Omega. Even after gaining a "soul" from Gamma, Omega is still a bit too triggerhappy and willing to blow things up.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Nicole, following her brainwashing by the Iron Queen. It wasn't helped any by Mina's protests or Naugus' HatePlague-fueled smear campaign.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Pretty much every character that could've stopped Robotnik/Eggman but didn't for whatever reason got this at some point, courtesy of the doctor himself in most cases.
* HolierThanThou: The echidna. They were the first advanced civilization and were active for millinea, seeing the other races below them. They're even like that to themselves.
** A recurring plot in later stories is other fractions conflicting with the core Freedom Fighters, accusing them of being {{Control Freak}}s that belittle the contributions of others or ignore suggestions that could have prevented dire consequences. Since strawmen arguments aren't uncommon, to what degree this has substance varies, though compared to the echidnas, the Freedom Fighters [[RightlySelfRighteous at least add up to their ego more]].
* HotBlooded: Monkey Khan especially, but a lot of the cast has shades of this.
* HowDareYouDieOnMe: 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.
* HumansByAnyOtherName: "Overlanders." It technically refers to a specific subspecies of humanity. The term isn't really used anymore.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: There has been some subtext in this direction, although there have been subversions and exceptions since nearly the beginning. The Mobians and the "[[HumansByAnyOtherName 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 image appears to have improved, and the comic refuses to dip back into the old subtext.
* HumanSubspecies: The Overlanders and Mobians. Both were the result of the Xorda gene weapons that caused most life (human and animal) to break down into a primordial goop, which reformed thousands of years later. The Overlanders were the physiologically closest to humanity in the comics… until ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' had to be adapted, resulting in ''Homo sapiens'' Humans appearing.
* HurricaneOfPuns:
** The earliest issues lived for this. Most notably, when a wood monster shows up, Sonic pauses the action for two panels solely to get all of the wood-based puns he can think of out of his system.
** Issue #182, where Sonic for the first time goes face-to-face with [[AGodAmI Enerjak]] [[spoiler:a.k.a. a BrainwashedAndCrazy Knuckles]]:
--->'''Enerjak:''' ''[in response to "Energerm"]'' ''Are you quite finished?!''\\
'''Sonic:''' ''[smugly]'' 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.
* {{Hypocrite}}: This applies to Sally, Knuckles, Antoine, and Geoffrey in terms of calling Sonic immature, obnoxious, and needing to grow up.
** Sally has been a princess for an incredible amount of time and never just ascends to title of Queen. Contrary to all the obligations that goes with it nothing says she can't be a queen but lead the Freedom Fighters (her father was king and led and army into battle.) She also never steps up and challenges her father but instead chooses to whine that his choices are unfair instead of calling him out and talking to him like an adult but as his little girl.
** Generally most character's flaws Sally claims to mediate, she will often have ten fold. She opposes Sonic's recklessness and failure to follow procedures, though in pressured situations, makes similar impulsive or illy thought through decisions, and is just as willing to defy the Council of Acorn when she believes they are being {{ObstructiveBureaucrat}}s (despite electing them to position in the first place). She similarly chastises Sonic's overconfidence, though her complacency against the Iron Dominion led to NICOLE being very easily corrupted and New Mobotroplis being taken over (though she at least had the decency to acknowledge this IdiotBall). She is also shown mediating Monkey Khan's temper throughout the same arc, only to go ''[[LetMeAtHim apeshit]]'' at the sight of traitor and Suppression Squad member, Fiona Fox attempting an EnemyMine, ironically while Sonic and Khan themselves were discussing the offer rather cool-headedly and were left comically stunned by Sally's vicious streak.
** Knuckles often calls Sonic obnoxious and having a big ego, but Knuckles himself is no easier to deal with. His entire training as Guardian basically made an antisocial hot-head who sees every stranger, even children, as a potential enemy and always resorts to using his fists before reason. That being said he's miles better than the rest of his family as he actually tries to help everyone.
** Antoine calls Sonic ego centric and does not play well with others which is sometimes true but Antoine isn't any better. He himself had an ego for a time and in all honesty Sonic has earn the right to brag about himself. Considering he runs head first into battle against tyrants that put him as number 1 on their shit list and never backs down or is intimidated. Antoine can only dream to get that far.
** Geoffrey is the worst among them. He lost both his parents which made him easy to manipulate by Naugus, but here's the kicker...''SO HAS EVERYONE ELSE''. He's not the only person to lose loved ones. Sonic has had the displeasure of fighting his and other peoples' loved ones and having to break terrible news to people but he learns to move on as there are more important things to worry about. That's impressive considering that in one of his jaunts into alternate dimensions he had to kill that world's version of his ''own father''. Another comes in as Geoffrey is honestly very insecure and has issues with envy. He never fully gets over his jealousy of Sonic's love-life with Sally and successes. This started when Sonic was teenager and he was a grown man and to this day despite being married and having a life he still has some hate towards Sonic.
*** Possibly the best example is in Endgame: Despite personally knowing about Robotnik's Auto Automatons, robots that can perfectly imitate people, he still believes that Sonic killed Sally until when Dulcy confirms that Sonic's been framed, stating that dragons can sense truth. Throw in his jealousy, and Geoffrey just inexplicably seems to hate Sonic so much that all he needs is an excuse.
** Arguably even Sonic himself to some degree. While he retains his "like the wind" ethics of the games counterpart, he tends to be one of the Freedom Fighters most wary to others stepping out of line or not listening to him, in some cases bordering a tantrum prone ControlFreak. Add to that he has an inconsistent attitude to pacifism and forgiveness, while he has considered sympathy even for his mortal enemy, Eggman at times, he held a rather lengthy violent grudge against both Silver for his rather tasteless (and badly timed) approach to heroics and Knuckles for...[[TheRival just plain out not liking each other.]]
* HypocriticalHumor: In an early story, Robotnik asks how Rotor can let himself get so fat... while his own stomach greatly hangs out.
* IdolSinger: Mina Mongoose.
* IgnoredEpiphany: Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal in issue 59.
* IMeantToDoThat: Nagus' reaction to curing Bunnie.
* {{Immortality}}: This is Mammoth Mogul's shtick, since he's an AlternateCompanyEquivalent of ComicBook/VandalSavage.
** It was Enerjak's shtick too, until Mogul stole his powers.
* ImportantHaircut: Sally had one done after Nicole rebuilt New Mobotropolis, cutting it from long to her former short-haired look to signify her de-{{Chickification}}.
* ImprobableAge: The Freedom Fighters started fighting TheEmpire when they were barely even teenagers, and they ''won''. Eggman still hasn't been thwarted once and for all, but the oldest among them is barely a legal adult.
* InsufferableGenius: An early plot turned Tails into one temporarily, and his evil alter-ego Miles behaves that way full-time.
* IntercontinuityCrossover
* InterspeciesRomance: The various species are more like races or breeds, but 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 relationships:
*** With Princess Sally Acorn (hedgehog/squirrel-chipmunk hybrid) - [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in a later issue:
---->'''[[CloudCuckoolander Bean]]:''' Are you and the princess going to marry and have [[LegoGenetics mutant hedge-squirrel babies?]]
*** With Mina (hedgehog/mongoose)
*** With [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor 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.
* IntimateMarks: Apparently, the royal birthmark is one of these.
* {{Irony}}:
** The historical/geographical kind, at least in the original version of Mobius. 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.
** Both Tails and Knuckles were foreseen as having grand heroic destinies fighting against horrible threats. However when you look through the stories involving said destinies, it's easy to feel that the actual threats were ''their'' fault. [[note]]Both Tails and Knuckles had obtained reality warping powers, the Titan Tails and Green Knuckles stories, with TT being on par with the ''Super Genesis Wave''. Basically, it never occurred to them that they could easily neutralize Eggman and their other enemies with those powers.[[/note]]
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Bunnie's maiden name is actually pronounced "Rab-BOW", with a long O and a silent T. Due to her being a cyborg, most people assumed it was pronounced as it looked (and was vocalized in the original cartoon): Ra-BOT, an obvious pun. Her uncle has apparently been getting similar treatment.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: For Sonic's sake, Mina took a bullet for Sally. She got better.
* IWasBeatenByAGirl: Vector, Fang, Draco and the Iron King to name a few, many of them to the point of making a RunningGag out of it. The large amount of {{Action Girl}}s justifies how often it occurs, but the trope's premise is still quoted frequently.
%%* IWillShowYouX: See ShutUpHannibal for context. - ZCE
* JackassGenie: Appeared in a one-shot and behaved this way for [[ForTheEvulz no perceptively good reason besides having an attitude problem]]. At the end, he was put back in his bottle and thrown into the lake.
* {{Jerkass}}: Scourge is a ''huge'' one in stark contrast with the snarky but usually polite Sonic. [[TheChewToy Drago Wolf]] manages to top him and makes Scourge look like gentleman by comparison.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** In regards to Vector, whose character is not a complete Jerkass just a little rough around the edges, during the Knuckles Comic. Throughout the entire comic's run and a little after that Vector never trusted Julie-Su and openly expressed his discontent with her and was poked fun of by his friends and her despite this. Usually his friends would tell him to chill and that he is just being full of it. Maybe but it doesn't change the fact that Julie-Su and her group ''did'' try to kill not only Knuckles, but the Chaotix and innocent people. Julie-Su only left the dark legion because she was in love with Knuckles, not because they were extremist or any thing regarding morality. Considering Vector sees Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix as his only real family and Knuckles being his very first friend he has full right not to trust her and be worried about his friend especially considering the countless traitors and deception both the freedom fighters and the Chaotix have to go through.
*** This is made especially evident in issue #27 of Knuckles comic where Knuckles gets pissed and attacks Vector for bad mouthing Julie-Su. Despite Knuckles going through what is essentially puberty it does not change the fact the Julie-Su being around is effecting Knuckles and Vector views it as a negative as Knuckles is both acting strange and not like his usual self and Vector is trying his hardest to get back the echidna he knows and loves.
** During the Mecha Madness arc, when Sonic is temporarily roboticized and set loose on Knothole, Antoine wastes no time arresting him on charges for treason once. While Antoine is a FrenchJerk who's always hated Sonic, and spends the subsequent trial doing everything he can to [[KangarooCourt make him look undeniably guilty]], he does point out that it's definitely suspicious, since Sonic had previously approached them with a plan to let himself be roboticized using a Neuro Overrider to retain his free will so he could destroy Robotnik's empire from within, and the fact that Sonic was roboticized literally ''right after'' the other Freedom Fighters vetoed this plan makes it seem that Sonic just disobeyed orders and went through with it anyway. While that's not the case (Sonic was actually ambushed by Nack the Weasel and delivered to Robotnik without the Overrider), even the other Freedom Fighters agree that Antoine's suspicions aren't entirely invalid.
** Shortly after moving into New Mobotropolis, Tails' parents launch a VelvetRevolution with the intent of turning the Kingdom of Acorn into a democracy. While they did so at the worst possible time, right after the war against Eggman escalated to a major degree, their criticisms of the Acorns' leadership are perfectly valid; while King Max meant well, he was still a slave to tradition and HorribleJudgeOfCharacter who's [[HeadInTheSandManagement decisions]] and refusal to heed the warnings of others led to the Great War, the destruction of Old Mobotropolis and Knothole Village, and subjected all of Mobius to Robotnik's tyranny for over a decade. Harvey Who makes those very same points when Elias approaches him for help in reclaiming the throne from Naugus, openly stating Amadeus and Rosemary were right and the Acorns don't deserve to rule; he only agrees to help after confirming that Elias is [[IAmNotMyFather nothing like Max]].
** Monkey Khan asks Sonic why they don't just kill Eggman and be done with it considering how much trouble he's caused everyone and the potential evil he can (and eventually will) do, especially considering at the time Eggman was going through a VillainousBreakdown, leaving him more then vulnerable. In issue 225, his point is validated when Eggman himself, having recovered from said VillainousBreakdown, gloats to Sally's face that they could have stopped him from making the Death Egg Mark 2 if they had just finished him off any of the numerous times they had the chance.
** While the Council of Acorn reek of ObstructiveBureaucrat tendencies, with a little bit of petty personal grudges on the part of some such as Hamlin, they make the hindering argument that, despite being the ones to elect them in charge in the first place to keep order, [[MoralMyopia the Freedom Fighters routinely ignore or defy them whenever they don't make the decisions they want]], essentially committing treason. Naugus uses this to his advantage when trying to seize the Kingdom, questioning whether Sonic's actions respect the people he vows to protect. Combined with the Freedom Fighters' recent number of casualties and bad decisions against the Iron Dominion damaging the public's trust in them, Rotor can only shrug very nervously at Sonic, unable to offer a good counter argument.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Ash the Mongoose, as well as Antoine before his CharacterDevelopment.
** Sonic has had this characterization at times, too (though rarely has it been as bad as in Fleetway's ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic''). 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.
* KangarooCourt: 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.
* KickTheDog: Fiona and Drago seem to treat this as their personal gospel truth. They just can't stop kicking it. Fiona inflicting this on Tails (who had a crush on her) just for the hell of it (and throwing in an ArmorPiercingSlap to rub salt in the wound) is by ''far'' the nastiest case of her doing it, though.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: In a later story, Sally socking Fiona Fox in the stomach for trying to emotionally manipulate Tails again.
* KilledOffForReal:
** Robotnik Prime and Locke are the big ones.
** Also, Tommy Turtle and Sir Connery.
** And Locke was actually KilledOffForReal ''twice''. It was an alternate timeline/future thing.
** And before any of them, Tobor and Kragok.
** Nate Morgan and Colin Kintobor.
* KillTheCutie: Princess Sally, [[NotQuiteDead way]] more [[OnlyMostlyDead times]] than [[DeathIsCheap necessary.]]
* KlingonPromotion:
** Lien-Da and her brother Kragok took over the Dark Legion by [[SelfMadeOrphan 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 BigBad) 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.
* KnightTemplar:
** 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. Hell, their modus operandi is to practically kidnap anyone traveling through the desert and force them to work for them, as the Chaotix's latest arc shows.
* KnowYourVines: 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.
* LamePunReaction: The early stories had a few, in reaction to the rampant puns.
-->'''Sally:''' What have I told you two about those bad puns?
* LaResistance:
** The Freedom Fighters. Though post-Endgame they became more of a special forces unit reporting to the government of the Kingdom/Republic of Acorn. The Secret Freedom Fighters were this when Naugus took the crown.
** Dark Mobius has an actual resistance. Which, by the time Silver gets there, consists of seven people.
* LawyerFriendlyCameo:
** The Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles appear in the background of one panel in issue #10, [[LampshadeHanging remarking that they're in the wrong comic.]] (It should be noted that Creator/ArchieComics produced a comic book series based on the turtles, ''Comicbook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesAdventures''.) The characterization is also probably messed up on purpose. Leo is the one speaking like a SurferDude, while Mikey is speaking like Leo.
** Also, in issue #18, Sonic mistakes the badnik Bat Brain's silhouette for the Batsignal and thinks Franchise/{{Batman}} is trying to steal his spotlight.
** The main story (as well as the cover) of issue #8 takes this trope to extremes.
* LegacyCharacter: Enerjak.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: ''Way'' too many times to count. Even gets {{Lampshaded}} in issue 218.
* LighterAndSofter: Once Ian Flynn became the writer, the comic, while still having darker arcs, generally became much lighter and more comical than the dark drama of the Penders years.
* TheLoad: Antoine was this before he started to pull his own weight.
* LoadBearingBoss: 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!
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Knuckles' family was nigh-Machiavellian in this aspect, actively conspiring to keep him in the dark as much as possible "for his own good".
* ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway: Played straight for the majority of the comic, then the Xorda showed up and [[TheReveal revealed]] that Mobius was EarthAllAlong, and that nearly all the characters are the descendants of mankind.
* LoopholeAbuse:
** Elias Acorn is preparing to confront Amadeus Prower after he learns Tails and Rosemary had freed him, knowing that he's attempting to replace the monarchy with a democracy. He tells NICOLE not to wake his parents and alert them of the situation. As the two men fight, a third party steps in to stop the fight - Elias' sister, Sally, whom NICOLE points out he never said anything about.
** After being hacked by A.D.A.M. and forced to help him in his plans, Jules is subsequently ordered to self-destruct after doing so. Jules instead exploits the fact that A.D.A.M. didn't actually specify ''when'' to self-destruct to hold it off until Sonic takes A.D.A.M. down.
** A meta-example; while Sega [[ExecutiveMeddling mandates]] insisted that Sonic [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin always win]] or [[HeroicSecondWind bounce back from a short-term defeat]], the writers still found plenty of ways to keep him from becoming an outright InvincibleHero by making several of his victories [[EarnYourHappyEnding gruelling]] or [[PyrrhicVictory bittersweet]]. Best shown in issues 175-177: Eggman breaks out a PoweredArmor specifically designed to outmatch and outfight Sonic in every way, and Sonic only manages to dent the shield the armor uses despite his best efforts, and Eggman beats him down both [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown physically]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech mentally]]. While Sonic manages to bounce back, save his loved ones and friends, and send Eggman packing with their help, he still got his prickly behind handed to him, and Knothole Village was still destroyed.
* LosingYourHead: Due to sudden rapid aging, Dimitri had to have more and more of his body replaced with cybernetic implants. He ended up as a cyborg head in a floating fishbowl.
* LotusEaterMachine: Used at least once in an early issue.
* LoveAtFirstPunch: Knuckles and Julie-Su, Rob O' and Mari-An. PlayedForLaughs with [[CrackShip Omega and Blaze]].
* LoveTriangle: 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, Julie-Su/Knuckles/Rouge... and possibly Locke/Lara-Le/Wynmacher. There may be more, but you get the idea.
* LukeIAmYourFather:
** A variation occurs with Enerjak, who is Knuckles's distant ancestor. 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 [[spoiler:Remington is Kragok's son.]]
** Hope Kintobor was told that her father Colin wasn't her biological father, and Snively was just her step-half brother. It was a lie. When Snively reveals this that they are indeed half-siblings, Hope is shocked but happy at the news. [[spoiler:Until Snively goes on about taking over world together as brother and sister. At which Hope breaks down and tells him to get out of her life.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes M-R]]
* MachineWorship: The Dark Legion, a cyborg echidna sect which practically worshiped technology.
* MadBomber: 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.
* MadScientist: Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, Dr. Finitevus, Dimitri.
* {{Magitek}}: Regina is a "technomage".
* MaliciousMisnaming:
** Antoine calls Geoffrey [[WesternAnimation/PepeLePew Le Pew]] on account of him being a skunk and possibly as a jab against Geoffrey's pursuit of the Princess.
** Marine gets this pretty hard from Shadow in ''Sonic Universe'' #1.
* ManipulativeBastard: 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.
* MarriedInTheFuture: In the "X Years Later" arc, Tails is married to Mina Mongoose, Sonic is married to Sally Acorn, and Knuckles is unofficially married to Julie-Su. Other characters like Espio and Vector are shown with children, but the mothers are never mentioned.
* MassOhCrap: 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.
* MeaningfulRename: Around the mid-100s, the Evil Mobius counterparts start renaming themselves to distinguish them from their good counterparts.
* MechaMooks: [=SWATbots=], Combots, Shadowbots, Egg Pawns, Egg Swats.
* MediumAwareness: A regular part of Michael Gallagher's scripts, particularly in the early days.
* MeetCute: Knuckles & Julie-Su, Rob & Mari-An.
* MeleeATrois:
** ''Sonic Universe'' issues 21-24 are a four-way fight over a Sol Emerald.
** Issues 162-164 temporarily involved a three-way fight between the Freedom Fighters, Mogul and the Destructix, and Naugus and the Arachne.
* MirrorUniverse: Moebius (formerly named Anti-Mobius).
** BizarroUniverse: 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 Rosy insane when it granted her wish, and Anarchy Beryls (Anti-Chaos Emeralds) drain energy from people after an initial boost instead of the excess power slowly fading.
* MisaimedFandom: [[InUniverse In-Universe Example]]; Mina Mongoose uses a concert to rally the people of Mobotropolis to start standing up for themselves and stop taking everything the Freedom Fighters say on faith alone.[[note]]Specifically, her main concern was to ensure that NICOLE couldn't wind up BrainwashedAndCrazy again.[[/note]] Thanks to [[EvilSorcerer Ixis Naugus']] manipulations, instead of the debates and civilian empowerment she was hoping for, the result is a divided and even more fearful kingdom and [[ArtificialIntelligence NICOLE]] eventually being evicted from the city.
* TheMole:
** 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.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Finitevus.
* MoreHeroThanThou: At the end of the "Enerjak Reborn" storyline, Finetevus reveals that only a HeroicSacrifice can break Knuckles free of his control. [[EvilCannotComprehendGood This does not go over as he'd clearly expected]]: Julie-Su thanks him for the information and volunteers, Archimedes immediately protests it should be him as Knuckles' mentor, and Locke overrides both of them arguing Knuckles will need them and it's his fault in the first place. Finetevus curses them as "grave-eager fools" and attacks.
* MoreThanMindControl: How Ixis Naugus' HatePlague works. He can use it to turn people against each other, doing so to drive the Mobians and [[UnwillingRoboticisation Robians]] to civil war, and later to turn the citizens of New Mobotropolis against NICOLE, but he himself notes that he doesn't generate the HatePlague on its own; he merely amplifies emotions that are already there and blows them out of proportion.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution:
** Councilor Gala-Na of Albion displayed this way of thinking on multiple occasions:
*** First, by ordering the High Sheriff, Robotnik's Mercia Sub-Boss, dismantled, uncaring that he's Antoine's roboticized father and refusing to risk letting the Freedom Fighters take him back to Knothole in order to restore his free will even after Antoine literally ''begged'' her to let them do so.
*** Then, when Dr. Finitevus began falling off the deep end after his failed attempt to {{depower}} Chaos Knuckles, Gala-Na voted to have him [[ShootTheDog euthanized]] and put him in custody. This bit her in the ass when Finitevus escaped, informing Eggman of Albion's location and sabotaging their defenses to ensure they'd be unable to fend off his forces.
** When Knuckles becomes the latest Enerjak, Locke takes Sonic and Julie-Su to retrieve an [[WeaponOfXSlaying anti-Enerjak weapon]]; while Sonic and Julie believed it would simply return Knuckles to normal, Locke later reveals to them that he in fact plans to use it to kill Knuckles, not once considering trying to save his son or bring him back to his senses. Julie gives him a ''major'' WhatTheHellHero in response, and Sonic ultimately smashes the weapon himself.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: The four-armed Bem aliens, and the entirety of the Arachne ninja clan (including Uma Arachnis and her children).
* NarratingTheObvious: All the time in older comics. The writers and layout artists apparently suffered from the unfortunate delusion that every panel had to have dialog in it; they don't really ''lose'' this particular delusion, but at least they learn to make the dialog semi-meaningful instead of this trope.
* NecessarilyEvil: 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''.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The comic practically runs on this. Standout events are:
** Ceneca-9009's DarkAndTroubledPast. 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...
** 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 [[spoiler:rebuilding the Death Egg in a more powerful form]].
** Sonic's dad and uncle found Robotnik, formerly Julian, and brought him to King Max, who made his infamous decision to make him warlord. Though he helped the Mobians win the Great War, he already had his own plans in action. Uncle Chuck made the roboticizer, allowing Robotnik to make the headway needed to make his empire so fast.
*** Originally, Robotnik simply sabotaged the Roboticizer. He had never thought it would work to his advantage.
** Locke. Oh my god Locke. His exposing Knuckles' unhatched egg to a Chaos Emerald let to said child's transformation into Chaos Knuckles, which prompted the Echidnas of Albion to try and siphon it away out of fear of what might happen. During the attempt, however, Saffron and Charmy interfered - causing the excess energy to be transferred into a then-unnamed Finitevus. If Locke left well enough alone and not experimented on his unborn son, the Echidnas wouldn't have been brought to the brink of extinction via the destruction of Albion, and the Brotherhood of Guardians would still be around.
*** The Brotherhood of Guardians as a whole. They had a major tradition not to interact with the world at large unless it actively threatened their interests. During the last year or so of Robotnik Prime's reign of terror, he found the Floating Island, weaponized it, and crashed the first Death Egg into it to try to sink it into the ocean. Not once did they raise a finger to stop him. The firing of Robotnik's Ultimate Annihilator helped free the Dark Legion, whose plans are what caused Knuckles' Chaos transformation in the first place.
** Although it was due to bad timing, Geoffrey restoring Naugus to place him on the throne ultimately did nothing more than to weaken the heroes, bolster Eggman's power, and (in Silver's timeline) destroy the world. That is, until the crossover.
* NoblewomansLaugh: The Iron Queen. Even in ''print'', it manages to be grating.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The ''Mobius: 25 Years Later'' series features Sally (chipmunk/squirrel) and Sonic's (hedgehog) kids, among other examples.
* NoMacguffinNoWinner: 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 [[KnightTemplar fanatic]] {{Jerk Ass}}es), they ultimately decide to simply destroy the refinery, keeping anyone from having it.
* NoSocialSkills: Knuckles turned out this way due to the Guardian tradition of ParentalAbandonment.
* NotSoDifferent: 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.
* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: Partially subverted in the comic itself; played straight with the Kingdom of Acorn.
* OddlySmallOrganization: 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.
%%* OffhandBackhand: Bunnie to Naugus in #173.
* OfficialCouple: In [=SatAM=], Sonic was [[OfficialCouple obviously officially coupled]] with Princess Sally Acorn. Thanks to AdaptationDecay, RuleOfDrama dictates that in the comic, Sonic and Sally are instead in an unending LoveDodecahedron with each other and everyone else. As a result, the comic's writers have a tendency to [[OutOfCharacterMoment rewrite the canonical romance]] to make [[LoveDodecahedron highly complicated romance plots.]] When Sally proposed that she and Sonic become a RulingCouple, UnfortunateImplications ensued: ''[[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sonic_is_sallys_consort.jpg she confirmed that Sonic is her]]'' ''[[HotConsort consort,]]'' thus making every one of those romances adultery!
* OffscreenBreakup: Sonic learned from his year-long return from Space that Bunnie and Antoine broke up while he was gone. However, it turned out that [[spoiler: Anti-Antoine, later known as Patch, was impersonating the real Antoine while they switched places (against their will, thanks to Anti-Sonic/Scourge). After Patch's defeat, Sonic switched them back again and the real Antoine and Bunnie rekindled their relationship]].
* OmnicidalManiac: 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.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted with [[CanonForeigner Ray the Manta Ray]] (leader of the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters) and [[VideoGame/SegaSonicTheHedgehog Ray the Flying Squirrel]] (member of the Chaotix).
* OneWorldOrder: 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. Sonic makes a particular note of the fact that Eggman lost control of his own empire at one point.
%%* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname:
%%** 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.
%%** Earlier in the series, Rotor as Boomer.
%%** Technically, all the Moebius residents except for Miles.
%%* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Eggman to Sonic.
* OntologicalInertia: After defeating Dr. Eggman in issue 200, the citizens of New Mobotropolis take to celebrating as soon as they hear the news, believing the Eggman Empire is finally finished. They discover the hard way that just because Eggman's gone down doesn't mean his assets have, and his resources and technology are immediately seized by the Iron Queen, who wastes no time coming at all in coming to the city and taking it over. Monkey Khan chews Sonic and co. for thinking that it'd be that easy.
* OrwellianRetcon: 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".
** In general, compilations often have slight art improvements and corrections for continuity. The most common one is Sonic's eyelids being recolored to blue rather than tan.
** To an extent, the early issues in general used two different discarded color schemes for Sally. This was eventually explained as her having taken a dunk in chemicals that changed her color; it took her some time to remove all the chemicals from her fur, [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/e/e5/Sallysappearances.png/revision/latest?cb=20100126235232 resulting in the color changes]].
%%* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Dulcy the Dragon and her race.
* OutOfFocus: With a case of LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, it's not uncommon to see many of the characters put on the back burner for awhile. During the Bollers era, Sally seemed to be the one getting Out Of Focused while the early days of the Flynn era had Rotor put into this spot.
* OverlyLongGag: Robotnik's nameplate in issue #0. See ArsonMurderAndJaywalking.
* PaperThinDisguise: In issue 9 Robotnik sent a robotic duplicate of Sonic, Pseudo-Sonic (not to be confused with Metal-Sonic) to infiltrate the base. Everyone knows its a fake immediately save for Antoine who blames the artist for drawing Pseudo-Sonic in silhouette specifically for a BaitAndSwitch.
* ParentalAbandonment: Almost every character until Robotnik'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 as his wife wanted Knuckles to lead a normal life. Seeing that she had no say in how her own child was being raised she left Locke.
* ParentalNeglect:
** Anti-Jules, to the point that it's implied that Scourge [[SelfMadeOrphan killed him]] out of resentment.
** Colin Sr., apparently. It's probably why his son turned into TheStarscream.
* PeoplePuppets: Mammoth Mogul uses his magic to control Mina, Geoffrey, and Tails, making them attack Sonic. And then he threatens to have them kill themselves if Sonic doesn't do what he wants.
* PetTheDog: Right before betraying the Freedom Fighters to help Robotnik again, Snively makes sure to convince Hope Kintobor to leave Knothole. Why? Because he knows Robotnik is going to attack Knothole soon and doesn't want her to get hurt. [[spoiler:This hint of decency gets cruelly subverted later on, when he tries to convince Hope to help him conquer the world.]]
* PlotArmor: [[NobodyCanDie None of the core cast are allowed to die]] or [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin lose to Eggman in the long run]] due to a mandate from Sega. Side characters are fair game, though.
* PlotRelevantAgeUp: Amy does this for the ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' adaptation, though they still generally treat her as her actual age when that matters.
* PlotTumor: Knuckles went 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 became massively convoluted. Eventually, the echidnas ended up becoming the most important race in the comic. Then, the Eggman Empire came along, and then a lawsuit, and... let's just say there aren't as many echidnas now.
* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: The Creator/ImageComics {{Crossover}} story "Parallel Paradigm" was very obviously an attempt from writer Creator/KenPenders to advertise his then-upcoming original superhero comic, ''The Lost Ones'', which Image Comics was set to publish.
* PragmaticAdaptation: Back when the writers integrated the game adaptations into the comic's continuity. Elements of the game’s story had to be condensed, expanded, or altered as to fit within the setting. Eventually this was all retconned, and the games are simply canon to the comic.
** One example is the ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' adaptation. Up to that point, the only Humans were the Overlanders, who did not have the temperament or culture of the United Federation. The Solution? Have Station Square under a mountain, where regular humans have thrived for thousands of years (and many comic issues) unseen.
* PretendToBeBrainwashed: NICOLE does this when freed from the Iron Queen's control; she pretends to be subservient until the heroes can turn the tide.
* PsychoForHire: Flying Frog is pretty nuts, while [[EgomaniacHunter Hunter]] is one who is played far more seriously, to the point of NightmareFuel.
* PsychopathicManChild: Eggman became this after Sonic #200. He got better as of #210.
* ThePsychoRangers: The Suppression Squad, who are the Freedom Fighters' [[EvilTwin Evil Twins from an alternate dimension]].
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "En! Er! gak!", a fighting-mad Silver getting a heroic second wind.
* PutOnABus: Because of a legal battle with Ken Penders over character rights, "Endangered Species" arc was re-written so all the echidnas except Knuckles were sent through a Warp Ring.
** Earlier, Sleuth Dawg decided he was done and walked out on the comic, promising not to be seen.
** Because of the Penders lawsuit, any character who was created by a former writer of the comic or was inspired/tied to the works of a former writer has been erased from the comic forever thanks to [[spoiler:the Super Genesis Wave that Eggman unleashed at the end of Worlds Collide]]
* PuttingOnTheReich:
** The Overlanders and the Dingoes on occasion.
** And the Dark Legion from time to time.
* PyrrhicVillainy: In the YetAnotherChristmasCarol plot.
* QuirkyMinibossSquad:
** The Destructix, comprised of Predator Hawk, Sgt. Simian, Lightning Lynx, Flying Frog, Sleuth Dawggy-Dawg, and Drago Wolf. Sleuth and Drago left the team, but Fiona and Scourge have taken their places.
** The Badniks--the original Dr. Robotnik's swarm of little animal-themed MechaMooks who served mostly as comic relief in the comic's early days. They'd been forgotten about for ages, but were eventually reintroduced to the book.
** As of ''Sonic Universe'' #37, Eggman has a new group of personal enforcers in the [[EvilKnockoff Metal Series]] robots.
* RealityEnsues:
** For the longest time, there were many factions and individuals that, based on their respective showings, could've defeated Dr. Robotnik/Eggman very easily. In particular, the echidna civilizations would've delivered a CurbStompBattle if they fought him. Instead they allowed him to continue since he wasn't a serious threat to them and he kept the other minor threats under control, even though his schemes have endangered them one way or another and he was aware of them from his time in the royal court of Mobotropolis. He was able to improve his technology to the point that, with some minor help, he could attack them directly and raze their civilizations to the ground. And now with the reboot, all of these people have been neutralized.
** Geoffrey St. John is put on trial for his role in enabling Ixis Naugus' rise to power in Acorn and how he apparently was aiding him for years. He's found guilty... only for King Naugus to use his royal authority (and an article of Acorn law) to pardon Geoffrey. There's no way that Naugus ''wouldn't'' use his newfound position as Acorn's king to keep his loyal servant out of prison. Earlier during Naugus' takeover, Sonic learns that Acorn's council doesn't appreciate Sonic disrespecting their authority no matter what villain is attacking.
** In Tails' mini-series, Tails arrives at Downunda with the intent of surprising Robotnik's underboss Crocbot. He gets spotted immediately and is attacked by Wing Dingoes and badly injured, requiring him to be rescued by the local Freedom Fighter group.
** In the events leading up to the House of Cards arc, Sonic dates Fiona despite full knowledge of Tails' crush on him, and during said arc, when Tails' father is arrested after leading what amounts to an angry mob to Castle Acorn and cause a riot in pursuit of political reform, Sonic tactlessly insults Amadeus' intelligence right in front of Tails, only to be confused when Tails shoots him a DeathGlare and walks out of the room; Sonic proceeds to blow off Nicole's concerns and insistence that they [[PoorCommunicationKills talk things out]] because they're "practically brothers". Later, Sonic tries to stop Rosemary from breaking Amadeus out to continue their VelvetRevolution; when called out on his loyalties to Tails, Sonic goes so far as to smirk and gloat to Amadeus and Rosemary's faces that even if they are his parents, he grew up with Tails and is close enough to him that Tails will [[EasilyForgiven get over it]]; he's InstantlyProvenWrong when Tails, who overheard the entire confrontation, finally [[RageBreakingPoint snaps]] and physically attacks him, chewing him out for his lack of sensitivity all the while. It goes to show that just because Sonic and Tails are lifelong best friends and surrogate brothers, with Tails being a HeroWorshipper of him, that doesn't mean they won't have fights or always see eye to eye; they'll have disagreements and tensions like any friends would in real life, and not talking things out will only allow those tensions to fester.
* RealityWarper:
** Knuckles, during his time as Energak.
** Feist, godlike ruler of the Special Zone.
* RealMenWearPink: Hyper Knuckles. Lampshaded by Sonic
-->'''Sonic:''' ''[to Enerjak]'' Hyper Knuckles was way stronger! Or are you just afraid of being pink?
* TheRealRemingtonSteele: Fiona, who was introduced as a Robotnik-created bot years before her real self appeared.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Sonic gives one to Eggman in issue #200 while delivering a CurbStompBattle. He regrets it when it contributes to Eggman's VillainousBreakdown. This was in response to a particularly nasty one given from Eggman to Sonic in 175, who did the same thing.
** 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.
** And then Sonic gives one to Silver after he got the "traitor" wrong one too many times.[[note]]Issue 235: He came to accuse Antoine. Sonic grabbed him by the scruff and dragged him across Knothole at full speed to Tommy Turtle Hospital, where Antoine lay effectively dead.[[/note]]
--->'''Sonic:''' Listen! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis There. Is. No. Traitor.]] I believe in my friends. I believe you're a flake. Each of them is a hundred times the hero you '''want''' to be. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Now. Get. Out.]] '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis GO. HOME.]]'''
* RecursiveAcronym: ADAM (ADAM Determines Anonymous' Movements).
* RecapEpisode: Issue 57.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: 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. Subverted after he was rebuilt as part of the Secret Freedom Fighters storyline.
* RememberTheNewGuy:
** Similar to the [[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM show]], Dulcy the Dragon was fitted into the comic with nothing more then a small back-up story introduction which gave her backstory and essentially went "She's been part of the Freedom Fighters all this time! Honest!" Ironically, Dulcy was later [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome phased out of the comic completely]].
** Lampshaded example when Dr. Eggman meets a leader of one of his armies known as Axel the Water Buffalo. He's quick to say he recognizes him and recruits him in trying to get to the Death Egg II. Orbot is quick to point out that they've never seen him before and Eggman has already figured that out - he admits that he was too hasty in stopping Super Sonic's Chaos Control and realizes that a lot of Mobius has been altered...
* RedStringOfFate: The Soultouch, something that only echidnas have that designates their one true love. Note that "true love" doesn't mean "will always be happy with each other"; affected pairs have been known to divorce, including Knuckles' parents. What ''does'' work no matter what is a bit of MindlinkMates for the pair involved.
* RenegadeSplinterFaction: The Sand Blast City Freedom Fighters - unlike other Freedom Fighter cells, they use dubious methods [[spoiler:such as kidnapping Sonic and Tails. And then capturing Bunnie to get revenge.]] Worse, their maltreatment of ex-Robians led to the creation of a [=DEL=] Chapter. That's right, things got so bad that former slaves would rather side with Eggman than live under the Sand Blasters.
%%* TheReveal: "...but all the same, welcome to New Mobotropolis. I will be your host[[spoiler:ess... NICOLE]]."
%%* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Trey Scales, or really almost anyone who tries to deal with Robotnik.
%%* RomanticFalseLead: 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.
%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething:
%%** The House of Acorn.
%%** And the Battle Kukkus.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes S-Z]]
* SanitySlippage: Naugus starts to suffer this post-Genesis, as a result of [[spoiler:the personalities of the wizards who formed him reemerging and fighting him for dominance]]. This is mirrored by BodyHorror, as his body tends to mutate when he loses control and becomes a rampaging beast, though this usually only last a few minutes at a time before he manages to regain control of himself.
* SavageWolves: A whole mess of them make up a group called The Wolf Pack. However, one of their former members, Drago, is a traitorous wuss. He[[TookALevelInBadass becomes more threatening]] after getting legionized, but...[[ButtMonkey you can only really do so much.]]
* SceneryGorn: 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.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:
** The Dark Presence.
** Once the Destructix starts to fall apart, Sleuth hands control to Fiona and just walks away.
* SdrawkcabAlias [=/=] [[SdrawkcabName Name]]: Julian ''Kintobor'' changes his name to Dr. Ivo ''Robotnik.'' What makes it confusing is that there is both a Kintobor family (Robotnik's brother shares the last surname) ''and'' a Robotnik family (Gerald Robotnik is Julian's grandfather). The ''[[AllThereInTheManual Encyclopedia]]'' [[{{Retcon}} clears it up a bit]]: Ivo Kintobor (Robotnik's Father) had married Gerrald's daughter, and thus united the two lines. Julian took his father's name, and his mother's maiden name. Though why no one pointed out the strange coincidence regarding their names remains a mystery.
* SeldomSeenSpecies: Mina and Ash Mongoose.The echidna. lynx.
* SelfMadeOrphan: It's heavily implied that [[EvilTwin Scourge]] killed his neglectful father Anti-Jules.
** More clearly, Kragok and Lien-Da of the Dark Legion murdered both their father and their stepmother, the former to [[KlingonPromotion become Grandmasters of the Legion]].
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Mogul.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong:
** Silver's mission is to undo the BadFuture he's from.
** Sonic tried this with both Genesis Waves. He doesn't do a great job.
* ShamedByAMob: Issue #74 involves this when the freedom fighters discover Robotnik running an outer space sweatshop after they all thought he was dead.
* ShipSinking:
** Sonic and Fiona, and Tails and Fiona, via the comics and Word of God.
** Ian Flynn shot down the possibility of a romance between Tails and Barby Koala, referring to the fact that the age difference between the two characters made the ShipTeasing earlier writers had included ''very'' uncomfortable:
--->"There is no Barby/Tails. Barby's affections were entirely one-sided, not to mention extremely creepy. I'll find a way to write that one into the ground to bury and kill it later, but for now, there is no Barby/Tails. And there won't be so long as I'm on the book."
* ShipTease: In issue 17 Antoine goes to retrieve a lost power ring for Tails in Robotropolis seemingly oblivious to all the danger there. He retrieves it and Bunnie is revealed to have been secretly tailing him and fighting off anything that tried attacking him. The comic ends with Antoine implying that he knew she was doing it and kissing her on the cheek. Nothing comes of it immediately afterwards but it's easy to see it as a precursor to their relationship later on.
* ShutUpHannibal: 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 [[VerbThis two]] [[IWillShowYouX varieties]] (or maybe three, depending on how you're counting them) of ShutUpHannibal 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 he's smacked aside]''\\
'''Bunnie:''' [[IWillShowYouX 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. [[KickTheDog 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:''' [[VerbThis Create this!]]\\
''[Sonic then runs up at Robotnik and knocks him off the walkway]''
* SickeninglySweethearts: 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.
* SinsOfOurFathers: The Xorda take this to almost unfathomable extremes. At one point they dispatched a peaceful ambassador to Earth [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill who was promptly dissected.]] The Xorda retaliated by gene bombing the entire planet. Several ''thousand'' years later, life had come back to the planet. When Knothole Kingdom and Haven's Brotherhood of Echidnas discovered the connection, Sally tried to convince the Xorda to leave them alone due to the humans dying long time ago. 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. [[spoiler: They failed. Not only because Sonic made a HeroicSacrifice to destroy a doomsday weapon, but because they once again leave before confirming Mobius' destruction.]]
* SlapSlapKiss: For a while, it reached ''ridiculous'' levels with Sonic and Sally. It's calmed down since.
* SpeciesSurname: Sometimes (Sonic the Hedgehog, Larry Lynx), sometimes not (Amy Rose, Sally Acorn).
* {{Spinoff}}: An assortment of mini-series, Knuckles' comic, and ''[[ADayInTheLimelight Sonic Universe]]''.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'', after the show ended.
* SpringtimeForHitler: According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUhZAL-hLRk this podcast]], the Iron Dominion arc was a joke pitch Ian Flynn inserted among his actual #200 pitches to make the rest look better, and he had to scramble to make it work when it was approved.
%%* TheSquadette: Julie-Su of the Chaotix.
* TheStarscream:
** Robotnik's nephew Snively served as his increasingly untrustworthy lieutenant, and eventually set in motion a plan to destroy Robotnik. In "Endgame" [[spoiler:he actually succeeds in erasing the original Robotnik from existence]].
** Robotnik[=/=]Eggman has stated that he knows that Snively and several of his Grandmasters are planning to turn on him, but precisely because of that they serve him to their fullest, because they want to take over a strong empire. He actually applauds Lien Da for an underhanded attempt and chastises Snively for a sloppy one. Eggman has another reason for encouraging his Grandmasters to plot against him, he actually finds it fun to have enemies to defeat, seeing it as just a game to him. But he wants them to be aware of the consequences if they lose.
** Miles, Tails' EvilTwin from [[MirrorUniverse Moebius]]. Originally loyal to Scourge, Sonic's counterpart, he eventually convinced the rest of the Suppression Squad to turn on him, and soon after set himself up as their new leader.
** Conquering Storm is a low-key one, but any advantage she see against Eggman, she more then willing to take such as providing Snively with the Iron Oni to use against Eggman.
** Lien-Da desposed of her Grandfather to gain the role of Grandmaster and tried to overthrow the Iron Queen. This didn't work out too well however.
** Kragok was this to Lien-Da - he had agreed to share power as the Grandmaster after they did away with their father, only for him to take the entire thing.
%%* StartOfDarkness: Regina the Iron Queen shows us hers in "A Lonely Girl's Story".
* StatusQuoIsGod: 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 friends vs. Eggman.
** 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.
* StoryBreakerPower:
** Power Rings. Ian Flynn explained that he wasn't eager to use them in stories as their wish granting abilities could easily solve every problem brought up.
** Silver, before the reboot. He had a rough idea of what was going on leading up the traitor's actions, but his not wanting to mess with the timeline more then needed kept him from just talking to the Freedom Fighters and sharing their collective knowledge.
** In the Sonic/Image crossover, Spawn. Chances are he's only there for market value, but had he actually participated in the story, he would've killed all the villains in seconds.
* SuperDickery: Issues #28, #203, and #204
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute:
** [=Robo-Robotnik=]/Dr. Eggman, for, well, himself. Continuity treats them as the same character, more or less.
** Bow Sparrow and Thorn the Lop for Rob o' the Hedge and Mari-An, respectively. Rob was originally featured on the preview cover for ''SU #47'', but a new cover was created in the wake of his absence. Also worth mentioning is Axel the Water Buffalo subbing in for Diesel the Bear, a character who only appeared in a single issue.
* SycophanticServant: Snively was sometimes depicted as this in the earlier issues -- ''very'' much in contrast with his later characterization. Crabmeat, however, plays it straight.
* TangledFamilyTree: Knuckles's ancestors, the Brotherhood of Guardians, and the leaders of the Dark Legion have been at odds with one another for 400 years. At one point Finitevus lampshades just how many generations have been involved in this feud. This tree is eventually revealed to include [[spoiler:Julie-Su]] and [[spoiler:Remington.]] [[http://orig14.deviantart.net/7fa2/f/2015/297/d/5/knuckles__family_tree_by_willkeaton-d9e9eyv.png Look at it here.]] And that's just the most recent 400 years. Knuckles can trace his lineage back to Pachacamac, an echidna who lived 4000 years ago.
* TennisBoss: Silver eventually realizes that the only way to stop a super-powered Enerjak is to reflect his own chaos energy back at him.
* ThemeNaming: The Brotherhood of Guardians.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Feist.
* TickleTorture: In #58.
* TimeDilation: During the Tossed in Space arc, Sonic is transported across the universe and ends up light years away from Mobius. He spends a fairly short time making his way through inhabited space until he makes it to a special PortalNetwork that allows him to instantly warp back to Mobius... only to be shocked to discover upon his return that on Mobius, an entire year has passed.
* TimeForPlanB: Eggman comes up with a series of plans [[XanatosSpeedChess on the spot]] to counteract Snivley freeing the Iron Queen and piloting an ancient giant robot in ''Universe'' #40, though they're more like steps in one large plan, which is probably even more impressive.
-->Plan A: Throw a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy monkey]] at them.\\
Plan B: Throw a [[UnwillingRoboticization roboticized chipmunk]] at the monkey.\\
Plan C: [[HumongousMecha GET A]] [[NoSell LOAD OF]] '''[[MythologyGag THIS!]]'''\\
Plan D: Lock both mechas in place and sabotage the other robot with an omnitool while the Iron Queen's too busy controlling the monkey.\\
Plan E: [[TheLastStraw Apply pressure to newly-sabotaged robot, and...]]
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Four-foot tall Snively [[UnholyMatrimony dating]] the statuesque Iron Queen.
* TooDumbToLive: By the time the series was about a decade into it's run, it became very apparent that Robotnik-Prime's bid in taking over the planet ''really'' shouldn't have been as successful, or lasted as long as it did, Freedom Fighters excluded. Note that some of these elements were from before the reboot and thus might not have carried over to the new continuity.
** There were the magic users, including Naugus,[[note]]who willingly entered the Zone of Silence he created when Robotnik defected during the Great War, only to be trapped inside,[[/note]] Mogul,[[note]]an immortal being who not only possesses magical energy, but the power of a Chaos Emerald,[[/note]] and various others who apparently ''could'' have been at least a minor threat to Robotnik, but chose to do nothing. The biggest example for Naugus is in 225: Despite having the power to travel through shadows, so he might've been able to stealthily track Eggman down and kill him, Naugus takes the Death Egg Mk 2 head-on and gets knocked aside since its defenses can block his magic attacks. Immediately after Geoffrey told him not to underestimate the DE no less.
** The Echidnas, who include the Brotherhood of Guardians[[note]]who possessed advanced technology and determined Robotnik to "not be a major concern,"[[/note]] and the Dark Legion,[[note]]who were otherwise trapped in another dimension, but had at times broken out and made it back to Mobius,[[/note]] and the civilizations of Echidnopolis and Albion.[[note]]Both were highly advanced civilizations who could have helped nip Robotnik's tyrany in the bud, but also did nothing. By the time Eggman had gotten to them, he possessed enough technology, force, and allies to raze both of them to the ground.[[/note]]
** The Overlanders[[note]]Robotnik's own people. Even ignoring the citizens of Megaopolis who followed Robotnik's brother to space in self-imposed exile, the Overland was broken up into different city states as it was prior to the Great War and apparently went into dormancy. The comic certainly went for long stretches before acknowledging the Overlanders still existed on-planet, and treated them as apparently not fighting at all against Robotnik, no resistance that the reader could see[[/note]] and Humans[[note]]normal Humans, technically a separate species from Overlanders. Even ignoring Station Square, which went undetected for millennia, and knew nothing about the Great War or any of the Robotnik Wars, there were still several highly advanced human city-states which were at times in alliance with the Overland. While the humans refused to help the Overlanders in their war with the Mobians, they still seemed to go as quiet as the Overlanders concerning Robotnik, and would not be seen in getting involved in the fight against them until they re-established the United Federation, ala ''Sonic Adventue 2'' & ''Shadow The Hedgehog''[[/note]] which included the entire G.U.N. military of the United Federation.
** And perhaps most alarmingly, the Acorn Monarchy even possessed a pool of magical goo, called the "Source of All" which would allow whatever Royal who bathed in it to have "guidance" through their reign and allowed them to see what future events would come in their time. Despite going through this ritual, King Acorn apparently never saw the Great War and it's instigators, Robotnik coming or his own banishment to another Zone coming from a mile away. Aside from creating the Sword of Acorns & the Royal Crown which possessed great magic, the Source did '''nothing''' for itself or the Royal Family, and was ultimately destroyed when Robotropolis was nuked by Station Square, which neither it nor the Royal Family saw coming!
* TookALevelInBadass: Antoine takes several, Evil Sonic when he becomes Scourge, and [[spoiler:Dr. Eggman]] big time after he [[spoiler:overcomes his VillainousBreakdown 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 [[spoiler:toys with Sonic to stall for time, nonchalantly injures/possibly kills Sally, then he fires his cosmic retcon device ''while holding a glass of wine, watching Sonic battle his robots from above, to celebrate his absolute victory''.]]
** 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 EvilTwin.
* TornadoMove: One issue had Sonic take out a patrol of Swat Bots by sticking his arms out and spinning around, creating a tornado. However, Sonic starts bragging without stoping, causing him to spin right into a nearby rock.
* {{Transhuman}}: The Dark Legion are a group of echidnas who are so pro-technology that they willingly augment themselves with cybernetic implants. As time goes by they begin forcibly augmenting othe people against their will.
* TricksterMentor: 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.
* TwoBeingsOneBody: Naugus' origin details how three powerful magicians, a rhino, a lobster and a bat, fused themselves into one being.
* {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s: The Nerbs go straight from this to WeWantOurJerkBack.
* UngratefulTownsfolk: Mina Mongoose uses her status as an IdolSinger to present a message regarding possible problems should NICOLE be compromised and turned against them as she was during the [[{{Magitek}} Iron Queen's]] occupation of New Mobotropolis; using it to his advantage, [[EvilSorcerer Ixis Naugus]] uses his HatePlague to amplify any and all existing fears and paranoia regarding NICOLE, eventually leading to her being exiled from the city completely. The Freedom Fighters respond with this trope: Rotor [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere resigns from his seat on the Council on the spot in response to NICOLE's exile]], and Sonic openly wishes that Eggman, who was in hiding at the time, would resurface just so they could see [[FairWeatherFriend how quickly the citizens went from scorning NICOLE to begging for her protection]].
* UnholyMatrimony: Scourge and Fiona. Also the Iron King and Queen, who (thankfully, for [[{{Squick}} 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.
* TheUnpronounceable: Dr. Fukurokov. No one in the comics can pronounce it, though Word of God gives the pronunciation as FOO-KOO-ROW-KAWV, after the Japanese word for owl, Fukurou.
-->'''Fukurokov:''' One day the world will tremble at the name of Dr. Fukurokov!\\
'''Antonie:''' Maybe, but zey won't be able to pronounce it.
* UnskilledButStrong: Enerjak usually is this when he appears. Demigod powers at his minimum, he constantly underestimates his opponents, becomes extremely frustrated with those that he can't simply steamroll over, (causing him to make careless mistakes), and doesn't know how to strategize.
* UnstoppableRage: 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.
** Do ''not'' mess with Ray when Mighty is around, in #175 for instance.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom. This applies to Sonic, Sally, Knuckles, and Tails's respective families. Issue 50 revealed that Sonic's dad and uncle found Robotnik and brought him to King Max, who made his infamous decision to make him the new Warlord. Additionally the brothers drove off a young Regina Ferrum back in the day as well, not to mention Charles invented the roboticizer. During this time up to when they were captured, Knuckles's father and ancestors were aware of Robotnik, but devoted none of their considerable resources to stop him, despite Robotnik once trying to ''weaponize'' the Floating island in the Sonic and Knuckles tie-in comic and trying to ''drive the island into the sea'' in the Death Egg saga despite the Knuckles spin off title revealing his family was still living on the island and would've been aware of this; Locke even commented on the Ultimate Annihilator in the spin off title. And almost immediately after they returned, Tails's parents caused a political reformation that may well have resulted in, in addition to [[spoiler:King Naugus]], the disaster Silver's trying to prevent.
** Geoffrey as well. [[spoiler:He admitted in court that he purposefully avoided warning King Max about Robotnik before his original takeover. By passing up an opportunity like that, he became partially responsible for almost everything in the book up to this point, including his wife's death. His actions may have led to Silver's disaster as well: if he hadn't stolen the purple Chaos Emerald for Naugus, the Freedom Fighters might've used its power to repel Eggman's attack without losing Sally. Since she was roboticized, her team has broken up and according to Silver, his disaster started in the arctic, where Sally was before the crossover...]]
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: King Shadow in the ''X Years Later'' timeline.
* VerbThis: See ShutUpHannibal.
* VillainousBreakdown:
** [[spoiler:Dr. Eggman]]
** 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.
* VillainEpisode:
** The "Scourge: Lockdown" arc (Issues 29-32 in ''Sonic Universe'') is all about Scourge, Fiona, and the Destructix trying to bust out of the Zone Cops' prison.
** The "Babylonian Rising" arc (Issues 33-36) was mostly about the Babylon Rouges and the Battle Bird Armada [[EvilVersusEvil competing to get into the Babylonian Gardens.]] Sonic and his friends show up midway though it's still mostly the villains' story.
** The "Scrambled" arc (issues 37-40) was focused on Eggman dealing with [[TheStarscream Snively's]] latest betrayal.
* VillainTeamUp: Happens almost as frequently as the EnemyMine situations, given the number of villainous factions involved in the series. Almost always ends with them betraying each other.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Ixis Naugus[[spoiler:, 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. And also because Geoffrey's unable to warn the council of what Naugus tried to do in the "Secret Freedom" arc.]]
* VisionaryVillain: Enerjak.
* WastefulWishing: A variation. In issue #35, after Sonic collects his one billionth power ring, he's taken to a special zone where he meets the Ancient Walkers. The third says he may ask him one question. Sonic, without thinking, says "Only one?"
* WhamLine: In one story, as Knuckles and his mother Lara-Lee argue about Demitri, she drops a major one to him.
-->'''Knuckles:''' Why are having such a problem with me dealing with Demitri?
-->'''Lara-Lee:''' [[MamaBear Because he imposes a threat to '''MY CHILDREN''', that's why]]!
-->'''Knuckles:''' Children? Mom, I'm an only child!
-->'''Lara-Lee:''' I didn't misspoke. You're going to have a sibling! I'm pregnant!
* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: When intelligent alien life first found Earth, they dispatched a peaceful ambassador to discuss beneficial trade. Said ambassador was promptly dissected.
** Said almost word for word by the Overlanders in Knuckles Mini series issue 25.
* WeaksauceWeakness: The Krudzu Plant, the first invention Robotnik sends after the Freedom Fighters in the ongoing comic, ends up weak to water, meaning a simple rainstorm defeats it.
* WellDoneSonGuy:
** 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.
* WellIntentionedExtremist:
** Knuckles as Enerjak. The dingoes also apply, depending on how you look at it.
** Finitevus considers himself one. [[OmnicidalManiac Though he isn't]].
** Lien-Da.
** [[spoiler:Geoffrey]] is one as well -- he [[spoiler:helped Naugus become king]] because he honestly believed it's for the Republic's own good. [[spoiler:Though now that he's seen Naugus' true nature, he regrets helping him.]]
* WestCoastTeam: There are Freedom Fighter teams scattered across the entire planet and even the oceans! The more well-known ones were the Downunda Freedom Fighters, the Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters and, of course, the Chaotix.
* WhamEpisode: Issue #176 shows the heroes lost their friends and families and Eggman and Snively attacked Freedom HQ, sending everyone except some of the sega cast to the Egg Grapes.
* WideEyedIdealist: Hope Kintobor. Her idealism reaches it's breaking point during the "Scrambled" storyline.
* WillTheyOrWontThey:
** 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 Rouge acts like she and Shadow are dating, but she acts this way to everybody, while Shadow is an emotional cripple with about three years of life experience (most of it pretty horrible), with some serious anger and brooding issues.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Both Dimitri and Knuckles were turned into the crazed god Enerjak by draining power from the Master Emerald.
* WomenAreWiser: 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 [[NeverLiveItDown 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).
** Notably averted with Lien-Da, who's in her 30's and still acts [[ManChild like a spoiled child half the time.]]
* WorthyOpponent: 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 FriendlyEnemy status.
* WouldHurtAChild: Fiona Fox does this both emotionally and physically. She not only breaks Tails' heart right to his face, she has the nerve to give him a brutal and unprovoked slap just to rub salt in the wound. And going from the smile on her face, she enjoyed every moment of it. And even afterward, she has the gall to still exploit his feelings towards her.
* WrenchWench: Hope Kintobor, in keeping with the family tradition, is quite the mechanical prodigy.
* YearInsideHourOutside: The Twilight Zone (no, not [[Franchise/TheTwilightZone 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.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: How Rob O' the Hedge often talks. His cousin, Amy, who comes from the same region, doesn't do this.
* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: An early, non-canon story.
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Snively begins to suspect that Eggman is slipping when he calls him by his real name.
* YouHaveFailedMe: The first Robotnik, often. Eggman has also shown aspects of this from time to time.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: King Shadow to [[spoiler:Lien-Da]].
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Tails in SU#20 actually quotes the [[Film/ThePrincessBride source]] word for word.
* YoungerAndHipper: Well, not ''hipper'', ''per se'', but Nu!King Acorn is much younger than the one prior to the reboot, looks more like Ray the Flying Squirrel and isn't a jerk.
* YourSoulIsMine: Dark Enerjak has a fondness for yanking out the life-force of his enemies, and putting them into Prelates (robotic copies of the original soul's body).
* ZenSurvivor: General von Styker, after his son ousts him from power.
[[/folder]]

----

** For the longest time, there were many factions and individuals that, based on their respective showings, could've defeated Dr. Robotnik/Eggman very easily. In particular, the echidna civilizations would've delivered a Curb-Stomp Battle if they fought him. Instead they allowed him to continue since he wasn't a serious threat to them and he kept the other minor threats under control, even though his schemes have endangered them one way or another and he was aware of them from his time in the royal court of Mobotropolis. He was able to improve his technology to the point that, with some minor help, he could attack them directly and raze their civilizations to the ground. And now with the reboot, all of these people have been neutralized.
** Geoffrey St. John is put on trial for his role in enabling Ixis Naugus' rise to power in Acorn and how he apparently was aiding him for years. He's found guilty... only for King Naugus to use his royal authority (and an article of Acorn law) to pardon Geoffrey. There's no way that Naugus WOULDN'T use his newfound position as Acorn's king to keep his loyal servant out of prison. Earlier during Naugus' takeover, Sonic learns that Acorn's council doesn't appreciate Sonic disrespecting their authority no matter what villain is attacking.

** In the events leading up to the House of Cards arc, Sonic dates Fiona despite full knowledge of Tails' crush on him, and during said arc, when Tails' father is arrested after leading what amounts to an angry mob to Castle Acorn and cause a riot in pursuit of political reform, Sonic tactlessly insults Amadeus' intelligence right in front of Tails, only to be confused when Tails shoots him a DeathGlare and walks out of the room; Sonic proceeds to blow off Nicole's concerns and insistence that they [[PoorCommunicationKills talk things out]] because they're "practically brothers". Later, Sonic goes so far as to gloat to Amadeus and Rosemary's faces that even if they are his parents, he grew up with Tails and is close enough to him that Tails will [[EasilyForgiven get over it]]; he's InstantlyProvenWrong when Tails, who overheard the entire confrontation, finally [[RageBreakingPoint snaps]] and physically attacks him, chewing him out for his lack of sensitivity all the while. It goes to show that just because Sonic and Tails are lifelong best friends and surrogate brothers, with Tails being a HeroWorshipper of him, that doesn't mean they won't have fights or always see eye to eye; they'll have disagreements and tensions like any friends would in real life, and not talking things out will only allow those tensions to fester.

** For the longest time, there were many factions and individuals that, based on their respective showings, could've defeated Dr. Robotnik/Eggman very easily. In particular, the echidna civilizations would've delivered a Curb-Stomp Battle if they fought him. Instead they allowed him to continue since he wasn't a serious threat to them and he kept the other minor threats under control, even though his schemes have endangered them one way or another and he was aware of them from his time in the royal court of Mobotropolis. He was able to to improve his technology to the point that, with some minor help, he could attack them directly and raze their civilizations to the ground. And now with the reboot, all of these people have been neutralized.

** In regards to Vector, whose character is not a complete Jerkass just a little rough around the edges, during the Knuckles Comic. Throughout the entire comic's run and a little after that Vector never trusted Julie-Su and openly expressed his discontent with her and was poked fun of by his friends and her despite this. Usually his friends would tell him to chill and that he is just being full of it. Maybe but it doesn't change the fact that Julie-Su and her group ''did'' try to kill not only Knuckles, but the Chaotix and innocent people. Julie-Su only left the dark legion because she was in love with Knuckles, not because they were extremist or any thing regarding morality. Considering Vector sees Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix as his only real family and Knuckles being his very first friend he has full right not to trust her and be worried about his friend especially considering the countless traitors and deception both the freedom fighters and the chaotix have to go through.

'''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.

* OfficialCouple: In [=SatAM=], Sonic was [[OfficialCouple obviously officially coupled]] with Princess Sally Acorn. Thanks to AdaptationDecay, RuleOfDrama dictates that in the comic, Sonic and Sally are instead in an unending LoveDodecahedron with each other and everyone else. As a result, the comic's writers have a tendency to [[OutOfCharacterMoment rewrite the canonical romance]] to make [[LoveDodecahedron highly complicated romance plots.]] When Sally proposed that she and Sonic become a RulingCouple, UnfortunateImplications ensued: ''[[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sonic_is_sallys_consort.jpg she confirmed that Sonic is her]]'' ''[[HotConsort consort,]]'' thus making every one of those romances [[YourCheatingHeart adultery!]]

* NoOntologicalInertia: Subverted 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.

* BareYourMidriff: Princess Sally Acorn, Julie-Su, [[EvilIsSexy Regina Ferrum a.k.a. The Iron Queen and Fiona Fox]].

* BareYourMidriff: Princess Sally Acorn, Regina Ferrum a.k.a. The Iron Queen and Fiona Fox.

* BareYourMidriff: Princess Sally Acorn and Fiona Fox.

* EvilRedhead: Fiona Fox (straight example)

* VirtualSidekick: NICOLE is an A.I program that slowly gained sentience over time till eventually she managed to conjure enough power to make a anthropomorphic avatar to interact with and help the Freedom Fighters. While she interacts with near all the cast, she's especially close to Sally who was there on the night she took her new hologram form for a test drive (in both the old and rebooted timelines). Sally even goes out of her way to load her mind into a computer to help Nicole fight a virus in the rebooted continuity, refusing to let NICOLE be deleted when the opinion was brought up.

* AlanSmithee: Former writer Karl Bollers would sometimes write under the name "Benny Lee". There was also an artist (or artists) known only as "Many Hands".

The US comic book based on the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' video game franchise, published monthly by Franchise/ArchieComics from July 1993 to December 2016. It is not to be confused with the similarly [[LongRunners long-running]] ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' from the UK.

** The Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles appear in the background of one panel in issue #10, [[LampshadeHanging remarking that they're in the wrong comic.]] (It should be noted that Franchise/ArchieComics produced a comic book series based on the turtles, ''Comicbook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesAdventures''.) The characterization is also probably messed up on purpose. Leo is the one speaking like a SurferDude, while Mikey is speaking like Leo.

** Whule the Council of Acorn reek of ObstructiveBureaucrat tendencies, with a little bit of petty personal grudges on the part of some such as Hamlin, they make the hindering argument that, despite being the ones to elect them in charge in the first place to keep order, [[MoralMyopia the Freedom Fighters routinely ignore or defy them whenever they don't make the decisions they want]], essentially committing treason. Naugus uses this to his advantage when trying to seize the Kingdom, questioning whether Sonic's actions respect the people he vows to protect. Combined with the Freedom Fighters' recent number of casualties and bad decisions against the Iron Dominion damaging the public's trust in them, Rotor can only shrug very nervously at Sonic, unable to offer a good counter argument.

* JerkassHasAPoint: In regards to Vector, whose character is not a complete Jerkass just a little rough around the edges, during the Knuckles Comic. Throughout the entire comic's run and a little after that Vector never trusted Julie-Su and openly expressed his discontent with her and was poked fun of by his friends and her despite this. Usually his friends would tell him to chill and that he is just being full of it. Maybe but it doesn't change the fact that Julie-Su and her group ''did'' try to kill not only Knuckles, but the Chaotix and innocent people. Julie-Su only left the dark legion because she was in love with Knuckles, not because they were extremist or any thing regarding morality. Considering Vector sees Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix as his only real family and Knuckles being his very first friend he has full right not to trust her and be worried about his friend especially considering the countless traitors and deception both the freedom fighters and the chaotix have to go through.
** This is made especially evident in issue #27 of Knuckles comic where Knuckles gets pissed and attacks Vector for bad mouthing Julie-Su. Despite Knuckles going through what is essentially puberty it does not change the fact the Julie-Su being around is effecting Knuckles and Vector views it as a negative as Knuckles is both acting strange and not like his usual self and Vector is trying his hardest to get back the echidna he knows and loves.

* BadassGay: According to Penders, Rotor the Walrus is gay. Rather notoriously, Sega ordered the creators to keep his sexuality low-key.

* AlternativeCalendar

* OffscreenBreakup: Sonic learned from his return from Space that Bunnie and Antoine broke up. However, it turned out that [[spoiler: Anti-Antoine, later known as Patch, was impersonating the real Antoine while they switched places (against their will thanks to Anti-Sonic/Scourge). After Patch's defeat, Sonic switched them back again and the real Antoine and Bunnie rekindled their relationship]].

* OfscreenBreakup: Sonic learned from his return from Space that Bunnie and Antoine broke up. However, it turned out that [[spoiler: Anti-Antoine, later known as Patch, was impersonating the real Antoine while they switched places (against their will thanks to Anti-Sonic/Scourge). After Patch's defeat, Sonic switched them back again and the real Antoine and Bunnie rekindled their relationship]].