Characters / Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) - Clean Sweep Inc.

Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) Main Character Index
The Restoration | Eggman Empire | Clean Sweep Inc. | Independent Antagonists | Other Characters | Classic Era Characters

A business operated by Clutch the Oppossum, Clean Sweep Inc. is an organization that is focused on cleaning up the messes left behind by Eggman and his machines. While it presents itself as a philanthropy effort, Clean Sweep charges their customers in providing their services, with any EggTech they recover is for their own goals — either to amass their own collection of resources and weapons or sell them to interested parties for a profit.

This puts them in opposition with The Restoration, cutting into Clean Sweep's operations by providing the same services for free, while also getting rid of any dangerous materials.

Before they were under Clutch's payroll, these villains either operated on their own or were previously employed by Dr. Eggman or Dr. Starline.

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As a whole

• Canon Foreigner: All of them originate from the comic.
• Evil, Inc.: Clutch runs his company as a philanthropy effort, cleaning up destroyed machines left behind by Eggman, but in reality is a cover for his shady dealings. Anything that they gather can be used for his own ends or is sold to the highest bidder. The Restoration cutting into their business and disposal of dangerous materials leads him to stage a "hostile takeover" of the organization.
• Evil Counterpart: Serves as such to the Restoration, a charity service that actually gets rid of the destruction and Eggtech Eggman leaves behind, while Clean Sweep Inc. is a for profit service that seeks to hoard said leftover tech to sell off to the highest bidder in order to acquire mass amounts of wealth.
• Legion of Doom: Clean Sweep is essentially this, being made up of formerly independent villains of Sonic's world that have banded together, for one reason or the other, to destroy the Restoration.
• Playing Both Sides: Clean Sweep Inc. makes its money by tidying up the wreckage and leftover technology from Eggman's attacks... at least publicly. Behind the scenes, the company sells the tech back to Eggman or anyone else willing to pay for it.
• Predatory Business: Clutch's main goal is to have Clean Sweep Inc. be the only service that caters towards clean-up of Eggman and his operations, with competition being "bad for business." Since the Restoration does what Clean Sweep Inc. does for free, and is actually legitimate, Clutch has been covertly conducting a "hostile take-over" to get rid of them. In issue #62, his plan involves, seemingly, becoming allies of the Restoration, while having Mimic, Surge and Kit infiltrate the Restoration on Clutch's orders to work on sabotaging them from the inside.
• Villain Team-Up: Over the course of the series, Clutch has recruited Rough and Tumble as hired muscle, Mimic for his infiltration skills with Mimic posing as The Mole "Duo" in the Restoration, and in Issue #67, added Surge and Kit to his fold both also acting as infiltrators for their own set of skills as well. Why they join under Clutch ranges from getting paid (Rough & Tumble), settling a past grievance with the bonus of getting paid (Mimic) or to acquire information (Surge & Kit).
• Villainous Legacy: All of Clutch's recruits so far were enlisted via the actions of Dr. Starline, who released Mimic, Rough and Tumble from prison in the Bad Guys mini-series and genetically modified Surge and Kit in the Imposter Syndrome miniseries, with Clutch's past business ties with Starline granting him information on them he can use as bargaining chips for their assistance. As such, Clutch has Starline to thank for accumulating all his officials at Clean Sweep Inc.
• Villain with Good Publicity: The organization has this reputation from the general public, with many being unaware of the company's true intent to sell the Eggtech they clean-up back onto the black market or to even Eggman himself. A lot of the public are also unaware that Clutch is the villainous businessman running the operation.

Leadership

Clutch the Opossum

Clutch the Opossum

"I'm a businessman on the cusp of an aggressive venture."

Introduced in: Issue #33

An opossum formerly known as an expert Chao trainer and the reigning champion of the White Park Chao Racing Circuit. He's known to use his collection of technology and wealth to trade with others under the table. In reality, he was a retired criminal mastermind, once known for being an infamous con artist and arms dealer. Following the loss of his hideout at the hands of a "new generation of Heroes," Clutch vowed to come out of retirement to rebuild his empire once more, his current venture is being the leader of Clean Sweep Inc.

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• Arc Villain: Of the comic's fourth saga, following Dr. Eggman's defeat in the Urban Warfare arc. More specifically, he acts as a Greater-Scope Villain while other, lower-ranking villains do his bidding.
• Bad Boss: He claims that he treats his Chao well... as long as they win. He's later revealed to stuff his Chao into a cage if they happen to lose in the races. He also threatens Rough and Tumble for screwing up after the former encounters the Chaotix in a sewer tunnel.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: His abuse of his Chao is established fairly early on and signals him as a bad guy. Cream immediately labels him as such, and even Shadow (who was pursuing Starline) took time out of his mission to ambush Clutch and punch him for abusing Chao, even referring to him as "disgusting".
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Clutch wears a black waistcoat and a furred coat over that whenever he presents himself as a citizen, though the coats do come off when he needs to get into combat.
• Badass Normal: Has no superpowers of his own (except maybe Playing Possum), but is still a threatening figure. Rough and Tumble are visibly fearful of his wrath while in his employ.
• The Bad Guy Wins: He along with Mimic manage to achieve their goals in the "Misadventures" arc. While Mimic infiltrates the Restoration, Clutch himself sends Knuckles and the Chaotix on a Wild Goose Chase by hiring the Babylon Rogues to rob the former. Since none of the heroes who previously met Clutch ever warned Jewel about him, he is literally able to waltz right into Restoration HQ and con her into a business arrangement.
• Black Eyes of Evil: His eyes are almost completely black, sans the irises.
• Boom Stick: His cane doubles as a gun.
• Collector of the Strange: Likes to collect seemingly random treasures, including robots, gems, and "loser" Chao he keeps locked in a cage if they fail him in races. The events of Chao Races and Badnik Bases cause him to lose most of his stuff, with his run in with the Chaotix also causing him to lose his stock.
• Con Man: Vector describes him as such in Issue #65. The following issue proves Clutch to be all that and more.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He runs a business known as "Clean Sweep Inc.", which is focused on cleaning up the mess left behind by Eggman and his machines. This of course is omitting the fact that he charges for his services and that the EggTech he recovers is to amass his own collection of resources and weapons or sell them to anyone looking to pay. This puts him in opposition with The Restoration, who do what he does for free while also getting rid of any dangerous materials.
• Everyone Knew Already: When Rouge uses the alias "Facet" while she meets with the opossum, he sees through the facade during a private meeting.
• Evil Old Folks: Evan Stanley says that while he wasn't created with a specific age in mind he's meant to be one of the older characters, with Stanley stating Clutch is meant to be of retirement age. Surge calls him "old man" when they meet for the first time in Issue #67.
• Expy: Clutch's hat and use of guns makes him a modern reinterpretation of Fang the Sniper from the classic era. The main difference is that Clutch is a black market merchant rather than a silly mercenary.
• Frothy Mugs of Water: While negotiating with Mimic in Issue #62, Clutch pours themselves two glasses of Perfect Chaos Cola, which the two hold and toast like they're tumblers full of spirits.
• Fur and Loathing: He is first introduced wearing an enormous fur-trimmed coat, and his ethics are dubious at best. His coat disguises his lean frame, which makes him look more like a gentlemanly businessman when he acts as a civilian.
• Green and Mean: Clutch is an evil opossum with green fur.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Clutch wears a snazzy tuxedo jacket, occasionally with a fur coat, but no pants.
• Intrepid Merchant: Clutch embraces this trope. His penthouse is filled with piles of junk he's collected over time, including gemstones. He is also a collector and trainer of Chao, which is why he offered to give Rouge anything she wants if 1) Cheese wins the Chao Race Grand Prix, and 2) she surrenders "ownership" of Cheese if the Chao wins. His junk is the leftovers of Eggman's destroyed robots, which he uses Clean Sweep Inc. as a front to clean up the messes and amass his own collection of robotic parts and dangerous weapons.
• The Leader: Acts as such towards the villains operating under him in Clean Sweep Inc., and being uncontested since Clutch himself either has goals that they align with, is paying them for their services and/or he has something that makes working for him the better solution.
• Lean and Mean: Clutch appears to be much broader in his first scene with his voluminous fur coat but in reality, he's got a very thin wiry frame.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: A G-rated version, where he wears a large and fashionable coat and dapper hat. He also pours himself and Mimic some Perfect Chaos Cola, which they toast and drink like they're tumblers full of spirits.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Seems like a typical evil businessman; one who sends stronger henchmen to fight in his stead while having no real power of his own except for his wealth. However, while he tend to avoid fights (especially when dealing with heavy-hitters like Shadow and Sonic), he's perfectly capable of contending with threats closer weight-class.
• One Degree of Separation: As it turns out, Clutch knew about Dr. Starline, as he was a frequent client for several pieces of scrapped Eggman technology that he collected. As a result, he also knows about Surge and Kit's old identities before Starline took them in. When he visits the duo at Starline's old abandoned base, he offers to divulge what he knows about the duo once they help him overthrow the Restoration.
• Playing Possum: Fitting for him, in Issue #35, he waits till the heavy hitters of the heroes (namely Shadow and Sonic) are gone before showing he wasn't knocked out. Somehow he even managed to fool Gemerl's sensors, being conscious despite Gemerl's sensors indicating he was knocked out.^note Contrary to popular belief, real life opossums don't "play dead" in a literal sense. Rather, it's a form of tonic immobility; an involuntary action that occurs when under extreme stress.
• Retired Monster: Clutch was a powerful gangster and Arms Dealer in his day but since then he's gone into retirement; his black-market trading and Chao racing is more of a hobby rather than a means to stay solvent. After a run-in with the protagonists, he rethinks his life and comes back into the world as a criminal mastermind, starting up Clean Sweep Inc. as a venture to overthrow the Restoration.
  Clutch: Once upon a time, my reputation would have preceded me...you know, I was perfectly content to enjoy my retirement in White Park with my Chao. That is, until some wild pack of do-gooders thrashed my home... Now I see that it was a blessing in disguise—a wake-up call, even. There's a whole new generation of heroes out there! Heroes I've never tricked, swindled, or beaten! And as long as I'm alive, that simply won't stand. It's high time I rebuilt my empire. It may be a humble start, but it's reliable: there's always someone out there looking for weapons.
• Trash of the Titans: His "penthouse" in White Park is a massive, dimly-lit attic filled with unsorted boxes and robot parts. However, his gem collection and the heroes' desperate need to repair Omega make it a low-key Treasure Room.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
  • In Issue 35, after he recovers from Shadow's attack, he traps Amy, Cream, Cheese, Gemerl and Belle in his penthouse, sics several Badniks on them including a super tough Snowy, and makes to escape.
  • He pulls it again in Issue 48 when the Chaotix manage to make him lose the last of his fortune. Just as Espio is about to bring him in, Clutch reveals he snatched a few of Espio's smoke bombs and uses them to escape, grabbing the Skunk Brothers in the process.
• Villain Team-Up: Has a tendency to do this, having hired Rough and Tumble to act as hired goons for him. He later recruits Mimic the Octopus in order to have him infiltrate the Diamond Cutters and remove them — and the Restoration on the whole — as competition for Evil Inc., which specializes in cleaning up the messes left behind by Eggman... and also taking any weapons or materials for himself or to sell for a profit. He later approaches Surge and Kit with the same objective, offering to divulge information about their past identities.
• Villainous Gold Tooth: He is an expert Chao trainer who abuses them if they lose their races. His left canine tooth is gold-plated. Prior to retirement, he was a powerful gangster and Arms Dealer; a run-in with the heroes inspires him to get back to his unsavory ways.
• Weak, but Skilled: Compared to the others in Clean Sweep who have a range of extraordinary abilities (Mimic's shapeshifting, Rough's musk and spin dash, Tumble's brute strength, Surge and Kit's cyborg enhancements), Clutch lacks any super abilities beyond his technique of faking being unconscious and can be considered the weakest. However, despite this, he makes up for it with his incredible handling of his gun cane, as well as sheer cunning and keen intellect that allows him to at least hold his own against the heroes, at least those that aren't Sonic or Shadow.
• Would Hit a Girl: Implied when we first meet him as Rouge and he have their banter with his undertones making it clear he's not afraid to off her if she does something to his disliking, even moreso when her initial plan to ambush him doesn't look to have worked. Eventually, outright shown after he recovers from Shadow's ambush and nearly shoots Amy with his cane gun.
• Would Hurt a Child: He has no problem putting Cream in danger along with Amy, Cheese, Gemerl, and Belle after siccing some of the Badniks under his control at them in Issue 35.

Hired Associates

Rough and Tumble

Rough & Tumble

"You've made life-long enemies of ROUGH & TUMBLE!"

Introduced in: Issue #3

Rough (the smaller blue and white one) and Tumble (the taller tan and white one) are two skunk brothers who initially act as independent villains. They thuggishly conquered a town, only to lose their freedom when they encounter Sonic and Knuckles. Since then they've bounced around from working on their own to teaming up with other more well armed villains (Eggman, Starline, etc). At the current they're under Clutch's employ.

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• Aesop Amnesia: In Bad Guys, they're understandably wary of Starline after he and Eggman used them as Metal Virus test subjects. All he has to do is promise them weapons, and they're on board, much to Mimic's annoyance.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: They’re the first major named characters to get turned into Zombots. They also manage to get Sonic infected. By the end of the Metal Virus Saga, they're all cured and back to their usual antics.
• Backpack Cannon: In Issue #13, Rough uses a back-mounted weapon called the Vapor Condenser which fires Stink Bombs.
• Badass Creed: Often introduce themselves with a motto that ends with naming themselves. The catch is that they need to find a rhyme that goes well with "Tumble". Sonic called them out for it once.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: In Issue #13, Tumble uses a prosthetic club tail given to him by Eggman. It doesn't take long for Sonic to destroy it.
• Berserk Button:
  • For Rough, stealing their rhyming schtick.
  • For Tumble, being reminded of his not having his tail anymore, or noticing anyone with something special about their tail(s). Tails (the fox) just showing up sends him into a rage. Him seeing Tangle's Prehensile Tail sends him into tears of envy.
• Big Brother Instinct: While it's never specified who's the older sibling, Tumble is very protective of Rough, ready to attack anyone who messes with him.
• Body-Count Competition: In Issue #2 of Bad Guys, Rough and Tumble get into an argument over who destroyed the most Eggman robots. Rough initially claims he took out 20 only to change it to 21. Tumble then changes his number to 22 which prompts Rough to change his own to 29.
• Break the Badass: Tumble is left in tears when Sonic destroys his prosthetic tail.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Their 2022 Annual story.
• The Brute: They play this role to any major villain they're working for; Eggman, Starline, and Clutch all use them as muscle and little else, since that's all they're good for.
• The Bully: When it comes down to it, they're just a pair of bullies who pick on those weaker than them. Their first issue demonstrates this as the two take over a town that serves as a weapons depot for Wispons and make it their own little kingdom with the town's residents too scared to fight back till Sonic and Knuckles eventually stop them.
• Bumbling Henchmen Duo: When working with other villains, they serve as this. They are both incredibly dim-witted, and can hardly get anything done without someone else directing them. While they are capable of putting up a fight against the heroes, they always come up short.
• Butt-Monkey: These two are among the unluckiest and most bumbling villains in the comic.
• The Chew Toy: Goes hand-in-hand with their Butt-Monkey and Harmless Villain status. They regularly get beaten up by the heroes, Starline poisons them with his spurs at the climax of Bad Guys, and in Issue #67 they're trounced in one page by Surge and Kit. Rough tends to suffer this trope the most out of the two, such as when Metal Sonic strangles him for an insult in Issue #13.
• Chronic Villainy: After the Metal Virus affair, Tangle rescues them and Tails offers them a chance to turn over a new leaf. They laugh in his face and go back to being villains, even trying to attacking the same town they took over again.
• A Day in the Limelight: Issue #3 is their introduction and they get a story to themselves in the 2019 Annual where they compete against Rouge when raiding one of Eggman's old bases. The 2022 Annual also sees a story focused on them, where they temporarily split up after a disagreement about their intro.
• The Dividual: It's hard to find a moment where the two are never together. Even when they temporarily break up in the 2022 Annual, they quickly reconcile their differences in the same one-shot.
• Didn't Think This Through: They bully the Wisps into helping them when fighting Sonic and Knuckles, seeing them more as tools than living beings. When Sonic tells the Wisps that they don't have to listen to them and can act for themselves, the Wisps indeed listen and leave the duo's Wispons, leaving them virtually defenseless against Sonic and Knuckles.
• Dumb Muscle: They're all brawn, no brains. When Eggman gives them blueprints for weapons, they claim they can't understand them. Until Eggman swaps the plans between them, only then it made more sense to them. Judging by Eggman's expression, even he knows they'll be a headache to work with. The Annual shows that Tumble is a little dumber than his brother though.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The brothers are very loyal and protective of one another. It especially stands out in the Bad Guys mini-series, with their affableness with one another contrasting the self-serving attitudes the other villains have.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Both react in horror when they see Dr. Starline electrify Mr. Tinker to revert him back to Eggman.
  • When Starline puts together a team of villains, Rough and Tumble put in the effort to be team players (even trying to include the others with their rhymes) in contrast to everyone else who were all planning betrayals. Both seem taken aback when Starline's treachery is revealed but it has them reaffirm their loyalty to each other. When Zavok in turn dismisses them as useless, the two simply bail the group, disgusted by their lack of camaraderie.
  • They have no problem burglarizing the Rabbit family's house, wrecking the place fighting Gemerl, and possibly even seeing Cream as an opponent for them to fight. But when they make Cream cry by destroying the dinner her mother trusted her to take out of the oven, neither of them feel good about it.
• Evil Smells Bad: While certainly a bad person, Rough doesn't actually smell bad unless he intentionally shoots his musk. He tries to use this to incapacitate Knuckles in their first battle but the echidna proves tough enough to handle the stench.
• Fangs Are Evil: These guys are as nasty as their smiles.
• Force and Finesse:
  • Tumble relies on brute strength while Rough relies on speed and agility.
  • In Bad Guys, the two are given Power Cores which grant them different abilities. Tumble gets a strength core while Rough gets a speed core.
• Harmless Villain: While stronger than most other citizens of Sonic's world, they're little more than annoyances to the heroes and slightly more capable henchmen to the villains. They almost never succeed in doing anything of note and just get their butts kicked rather quickly.
• I Gave My Word: During their second encounter with Sonic, they state they'll tell him of Eggman's return of he beats them. He manages, with help from Tails, and they do start to spill, but Starline warps them away before they can finish.
• Inexplicably Tailless: Justified. Tumble has a stubby tail for a skunk, and it's made clear he lost his original long tail a long time ago.
• It's Personal: They proclaim themselves "life-long enemies" of Sonic and Knuckles for thwarting them in issue #3. Played for Laughs by Tumble in issue #13, upon seeing Tails.
  Tumble: Dibs on the runt! I LOSE MY TAIL, BUT YOU GET TWO?!
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: In #13, Sonic is feels some sympathy when he gets his new artificial tail destroyed. Then Subverted when Tumble sobs about how he didn't get to smash Sonic's skull, causing Sonic to lose all sympathy for him.
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • At the end of Bad Guys, fed up with Starline's treachery and Zavok's bossiness, they decide to strike out on their own for a while and bail. Their exit comes just in time (which Rough lampshades), as Eggman shows up moments later and levels the base they were in after being tipped off by Mimic.
  • In Issue #66, they abandon their attempted robbery at Cream's house when Vanilla returns, pathetically dropping to their knees and begging as she scolds them. They go on to behave themselves for the rest of the day, to the point where they join the Rabbit Family and the Chaotix for dinner.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike most characters, Tumble doesn't wear gloves, instead donning a pair of spiked cuffs.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever happened to Tumble that resulted in the loss of his tail. It clearly had a deep impact on him, given how irate he gets when reminded of it and how upset he becomes when Sonic smashes his robotic replacement.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Before taking over a Wispon distribution town, they defeated the horde of Badniks besieging it on their own.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Get this in their debut issue when Sonic convinces the Wisps not to help the two and that they're virtually surrounded by all manner of angry Wisps and facing Sonic and Knuckles with no Wispons at their disposal.
  • Rough says this word for word in #15 when Sonic and Amy trick the brothers into driving into a pit.
  • They get another one in Issue #66 when they face Vanilla's wrath.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: The duo are quite strong; Rough even possesses a spindash and gas-attack. They can trash Badniks with ease and even manage to bring down the Egg Golem together, but Sonic and the heroes can do that and much more. Any time they go up against the blue hedgehog and his allies, Rough and Tumble always come up short.
• Painful Rhyme: Lampshaded sometimes whenever they both really stretch their rhymes (one of which serves as the current page image). The 2022 annual story even has Tumble call out Rough for their intros only kinda rhyming and that they've been using slant rhymes at best.
  Sonic: If that's going to be your thing, it actually has to rhyme!
• Poke the Poodle: They note in Bad Guys that they're banned from several ball pits due to constantly forcing kids out of them.
• Punny Name: A double whammy. Not only is Rough an abrasive personality, his brother Tumble enjoys a good brawl, being strong enough to hold off Sonic's Spin Attack. Put their names together, and you get their schtick.
• Redemption Rejection: After they're rescued from the pit Sonic and Amy threw them down into, Tails tells them that this is their second chance and they should use it to do good. The two just laugh in his face and state their intention to do more bullying.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: A variation. Rough has red irises and yellow sclera, while his brother Tumble has black irises and red sclera. Both are bad news.
• Required Secondary Powers: Averted. Rough isn't immune to his own musk, which comes back to haunt him when Tails knocks a cannister of his weaponized stench back at him.
• Revenge: After being defeated by Sonic and Knuckles, they join up with Eggman for the chance to pay them back.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Their gimmick, combined with Speak in Unison.
• Serious Business: Rhyming. It's clear the pair put a lot of effort into their rhyming introductions and get angry when Sonic and the rest steal it for a joke. Tumble even argues with Rough over his use of Painful Rhyme and awkward flow.
• Shadow Archetype: They both serve as villainous foils to Sonic and Knuckles.
• Sibling Rivalry: They're really close overall, but that doesn't stop them from butting heads from time to time. They argue over who destroyed more badniks when raiding one of Eggman's bases in Bad Guys and in the 2022 annual, briefly split up due to disagreements about rhyming and who can come up with better plans.
• Smart Ball: In the Bad Guys, not only do they manage to be genuinely useful in the Villain Team-Up coup, but after dealing with Starline's betrayal and Zavok's dismissiveness, they simply leave in disgust, for once realising they are in a toxic alliance. This ends up saving them as they leave the HQ just before Eggman and Zavok's all-out war levels the whole area.
• Smelly Skunk: They're skunks. Rough even uses it for his Stink Bomber attack.
• Speed Demon: In Bad Guys Issue #3, Rough is given a Power Core which grants him Super Speed. He finds himself enjoying the feeling of moving at super-speed and understands why Sonic is always so cocky.
• Spikes of Villainy: Tumble wears a pair of spiked cuffs to enforce his 'bad guy' bit.
• Starter Villain: The first non-Eggman threat faced early in the series, they're bad people of their own volition and acting purely off their selfish desires.
• Starter Villain Stays: After their initial appearance, they stick around as a recurring pair of thugs in the employ of the major villains, with them working as hired muscle for Eggman, Starline, and Clutch.
• Too Dumb to Live: Upon finally escaping the mines in the Metal Virus epilogue, they immediately attempted to take over Barricade Town again. Naturally, the residents were prepared for them this time since they got their Wispons back, resulting in them getting thrown into prison, which is where they first appear in Bad Guys.
• Toilet Humor: Averted. Rough's "Stink Bomber" is shown as green clouds that, in any other kids' media with a Smelly Skunk, would be farting. But it's just musk.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed in Bad Guys. They're as villainous as ever, but they're the only ones out of the protagonists who never attempt or make plans to betray the rest of the team.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After the Metal Virus is destroyed, they nearly starve to death in the pit Sonic knocked them into until Tails and Tangle come save them. They're offered a second chance to turn over a new leaf but laugh it off and leave to cause more havoc. And then immediately get lost in the mines.
• Unskilled, but Strong: While both brothers act as The Brute to whichever organization they're with, Tumble is shown to be much stronger than his brother. He has none of Rough's special abilities and can't move as fast but he makes up for it in raw physical strength.
• Unwitting Pawn: Eggman decides to make them test subjects for his new Metal Virus by claiming they're "back up plans" in case the drill tank he gives them doesn't work. After the tank gets trashed, they proceed to use it are quickly turned into metal "Zombots" which robs them of their emotions as they continue their attack.
• Villain Team-Up: Starline recruits them to help him restore Eggman's memories. Afterward, they enter both Eggman and Starline's employ, though very briefly, and are disposed of as the first test subjects of the Metal Virus. After that, Starline re-hires them for his own schemes in Bad Guys, but that partnership also quickly goes south after Starline's intent to betray them all is revealed. The two then find themselves under the employ of Clutch the Opossum come "Hit the Pavement." While they are seemingly let go by Clutch by the events of "Misadventures," they're under his employ again in "Second Chances."
• Weak, but Skilled: Rough, in comparison to his brother, has a much wider power set. He's capable of a gas attack and spin dash whereas Tumble is defined more by his physical strength. That said, Rough is also much weaker than Tumble. When Starline's team raids an Eggman base, Rough struggles to move the supply crates which Tumble picks up with ease (and Mimic simply gets a cart for).
• Weaponized Stench: Rough can produce a noxious musk as a form of attack which he calls "Stink Bomber".
• We Will Meet Again: States as such to Sonic and Knuckles in their debut issue as they're being taken away to jail.
• "You!" Exclamation: In the final Bad Guys issue, Tumble yells this to Starline after finding the latter poisoned Rough.
• You Have Failed Me: Just one defeat to Sonic and Tails is all it takes for Eggman to write the brothers off besides using them as guinea pigs for the Metal Virus. Clutch also tires of their ineptitude before long, but still decides to keep them around.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Eggman and Starline cutting them loose within a mere four issues was almost certainly Starline's intent all along, and he plans on doing the same when he re-hires them in Bad Guys. Luckily, Rough and Tumble survive each betrayal, and after the second one, they never work for Starline again.

Mimic the Octopus (Unmarked Tangle & Whisper Spoilers)

Mimic the Octopus

"He found out one of the Diamond Cutters is still alive...and he won't let me leave a job unfinished!"

^{Click here to see him in his "Duo the Cat" form}

Introduced in: Tangle & Whisper #1

A sociopathic and manipulative shapeshifting octopus who took out the Diamond Cutters, an anti-Eggman mercenary group that Whisper was a part of, and has since been looking to finish the job with Whisper. Currently, he has aligned himself with Clutch.

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• Arch-Enemy: To Whisper. It's implied he killed her friends, and she's been on the hunt for him since then. It's revealed by Whisper that he was once one of the Diamond Cutters and sold them out to Eggman, creating a personal enmity between him and the wolf.
• Arc Villain: For the Tangle & Whisper mini-series. His betrayal of the Diamond Cutters shaped Whisper into the lone wolf she is in the present, and is ordered by Eggman to finish the job.
• Ax-Crazy: A murderous psychopath who's responsible for the deaths of Whisper's teammates, the Diamond Cutters.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: He sports a full outfit, but the soles of his boots have long given out, leaving the tentacles he uses as feet totally exposed to the elements.
• The Bad Guy Wins:
  • He and Starline are the only two villains to get what they want at the end of the Bad Guys mini-series. Mimic has his file deleted from Eggman's database, allowing him to walk free and pursue his own goals, namely vengeance on Whisper.
  • He along with Clutch also emerge victorious in the Misadventures main series arc. In particular, he manages to get Silver expelled from the Neo Diamond Cutters and cement his cover due to the heroes grabbing the Idiot Ball, putting him within arm's reach of revenge on Tangle and Whisper.
• Berserk Button: A Dirty Coward though he may be, Mimic prides himself on never leaving a job unfinished. In particular, the Diamond Cutter job; he resurfaces after Eggman informs him that Whisper is still around (partially to save his own skin), and learning that she and Tangle started a new Diamond Cutters infuriates him enough to immediately sign on with Clutch's scheme to infiltrate the Restoration.
• Black Cloak: Much like Whisper, although his is tattered.
• Black Eyes of Evil: When he puts his Game Face on, Mimic's sclera turn black and his pupils turn white.
• The Bus Came Back: After Starline busts him out of jail and is forced to wipe him from Eggman's database, Mimic goes on the run and doesn't reappear until Issue #62. Incidentally, this is also the first time he makes an appearance in the main book, as his previous two appearances were limited to the Tangle & Whisper and Bad Guys mini-series. Whisper goes after him during this time, but is forced to give up after Surge (one of Starline's creations) almost kills her.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Mimic will betray whoever he's currently aligned with if it suits him. He left the Diamond Cutters for dead when their mission endangered his life, he joined Zavok in plotting against Dr. Starline, and then abandoned Zavok and the others after luring Eggman to the base with the intention of wiping out anyone that might snitch on his survival.
• Close-Range Combatant: Mimic is a hands on fighter using his strength or his knives to overpower people. Most of the other Diamond Cutters used projectile weaponry while Mimic's Wispon was more melee-focused, with the Blue Wisp turning into a hammer-like construct.
• Combat Pragmatist: His ambush in Tangle & Whisper Issue #2 is nothing if not thorough. He separates Tangle from Whisper so they don't have the advantage in numbers, and uses every weapon at his disposal when he actually fights Whisper. When Whisper knocks him down, he distracts her with a Shapeshifter Guilt Trip and Tangle's predicament, then runs out of the warehouse that he had rigged with explosives beforehand. Only some quick thinking on Tangle's part allowed the heroines to survive.
• Combat Tentacles: He can also use his tentacles as weapons.
• The Comically Serious: Downplayed. Mimic has few comedic traits and is presented as a serious and dangerous threat. The comic does use this for comedic contrast though, as Whisper shows a photo of Mimic in his Sonic disguise punting a Chao in the distance. In the first issue of Bad Guys, he gets a reaction shot of pure exasperation with how easy the Skunk Brothers are to fool and spends a good deal of the mini-series as a disgruntled Straight Man to their eccentricities.
• David Versus Goliath: His confrontation with Silver in Issue #64. Since Silver is far more powerful in a straight fight, Mimic instead engages him in a Battle of Wits, to which his own skillset is better-suited. Silver's over-eagerness also gives Mimic the perfect opportunity to play victim and ostracize him from the rest of the Restoration.
• Devious Daggers: He is a deceptive shapeshifter who betrayed his former team, the Diamond Cutters. While his skill with them is never shown, he does wield knives in the first issue of the Tangle & Whisper mini-series.
• Dirty Coward: He only joined the Diamond Cutters for the money, then betrayed them all when his own life was on the line. He's also fearful of Eggman going after him if he fails to finish the job with Whisper. Even after breaking out of prison and being erased from the Eggnet (both thanks to Starline), Mimic still laid low until after Eggman's defeat in the Urban Warfare arc, making no attempt to challenge Tangle and Whisper again in the meantime.
• A Dog Named "Dog": A mimic octopus named Mimic.
• Evil Former Friend: To Whisper, and her Wisps, as they used to be teammates. That said, Mimic states he didn't see any of the Diamond Cutters as his friends, and only a means to an end.
• Evil Is Petty: While impersonating Sonic, he also paints Eggman graffiti, kicks Chao, and steals candy from babies.
• Eyes Are Mental: Downplayed; whenever he mimics someone, he retains a pair of brown eyes (even though he normally has white eyes with black sclera), regardless of the actual eye color of the person being mimicked.
• Face–Heel Turn: Subverted. He used to be a part of an anti-Eggman mercenary group known as the Diamond Cutters, but later aligned himself with Dr. Eggman and killed the rest of his teammates but one. However, he was never a hero to begin with and only joined the Diamond Cutters for the rewards.
• Fate Worse than Death: Tangle convinces Whisper that leaving Mimic alive to live with the shame of his failure to kill her is a worse punishment than killing him. Indeed, when he is imprisoned in a glass chamber built by Tails he says he wished Whisper had pulled the trigger.
• Friendship Denial: He makes it clear to Tangle that he was never friends, or even comrades, with the other Diamond Cutters. To him, they were merely a means to an end.
• Game Face: While he can usually get the details of whom he shifts right, when he goes in for the kill his eyes turn black (with white pupils) and lines form along his mouth. These features belong to his true form.
• Hypocrite:
  • He complains when Tangle gets a shot in at him from behind calling it a cheap shot. When he himself had turned into Jewel to prevent her from attacking him and was on the verge of trying to kill her when he knocked her down. Likewise, he appeals to the blue wisp in Whisper's arsenal about being opposed to violence after she hits her with him. Again the guy is trying to murder the two after him.
  • He's outraged when he discovers Starline intends to betray him in the Bad Guys arc, with Zavok repeatedly having to prevent him from breaking cover and offing him first. Predictably however, he shortly decides the doctor had a good idea and betrays him and the rest of the group in turn by alerting Eggman.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: His reasons for betraying the Diamond Cutters to Eggman.
• It's All About Me: Regardless of who he's aligned with at the time, Mimic's true allegiance is always to himself. When Tangle asks him if it was worth it to betray his friends, he cites he has no regrets doing so since, to him, it was all a job and he felt he was in the right to do so since they were putting him in danger. As he puts it, "Heroes become martyrs. Professionals stay alive".
  Whisper: Greed mattered more to him than friends.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: Zig-zagged. A recurring theme with his transformations. While he looks convincing enough (save for the suckers on his palms and soles and permanent brown eyes), he can't replicate personalities, and always gets something wrong. Despite these occasional mistakes, most of the errors he makes don't typically give away his disguise.
  • His "Sonic" impersonation introduces himself as "Sonic T. Hedgehog" and can't run at top speed.
  • His "Whisper" impersonation speaks at a normal volume, while the real Whisper...whispers. He also doesn't have her Variable Wispon.
  • His "Tangle" impersonation is uncharacteristically rude and sarcastic.
  • His "Dr. Starline" impersonation had a differently colored bill (a lighter shade of purple where his spectacles rest on).
  • His "Dr. Eggman" impersonation has a miscolored nose, being a more desaturated red than the rosy pink he's known for.
• Laser-Guided Karma: By the end of the Tangle & Whisper mini-series, he's not only been captured and on his way to jail, but Tangle outright spells it out to him that even Eggman wants his head on a platter for wasting so many resources on a failed venture, making his callous betrayal of the Diamond Cutters All for Nothing while Whisper is the one famed as the "Guardian Angel" without intending to. The girls' victory proves short-lived thanks to Starline, but they in turn (along with Lanolin) go on to become a new generation of Diamond Cutters, making Mimic's prior treachery even more pointless. Mimic, of course, is not amused.
• Manipulative Bastard: His specialty, and boy does he revel in it.
• The Mole: With the help of Clutch, he infiltrates the Neo Diamond Cutters as a volunteer under the name "Duo the Cat".
• Morphic Resonance: His Voluntary Shapeshifting is powerful, but there are a few things he can't change: the suckers on his hands and feet (even when he mimics gloves and shoes) and his brown eyes.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The tentacles on Mimic's head also function as limbs; Rough even calls him "arm-head."
• Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: In between Whisper's recording of Mimic's sudden ambush and her chasing him down in Tangle's home, it's implied that the former learned the hard way what happens when you literally try to bring a knife to a gun fight.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Mimic is one of the very few characters to wear neither gloves nor shoes (albeit he used to have these when he was still a Diamond Cutter). Not that he needs to, as he can shapeshift clothing onto himself as well, although as noted in Morphic Resonance, he still retains his suckers. Tellingly, he dons a pair of actual mittens while posing as Duo, as shown by him taking them off.
• No-Sell: Downplayed. His disguises generally work, but are less effective on people familiar with his game:
  • Since he and Whisper were once teammates, she knows him best and almost never falls for his ruses, forcing him to manipulate her friends into calling her off or imperil them to give her a Sadistic Choice.
  • Eggman is also wiser to Mimic's cons than most and warns him that no form he takes can disguise him from Metal Sonic. Mimic knows this and had to have his Eggnet data deleted to keep the doctor from tracking him.
• Only in It for the Money: Played With. As a villain he's clearly enjoying himself but his bio notes that back when he was with the Diamond Cutters this was the only real reason he stuck around.
  "His goal wasn't freedom, though. Mimic only sought prestige and riches. When things started to look dire, he would always look out for himself first."
• Psycho for Hire: He acts as a mercenary for Eggman, and clearly enjoys his job a bit too much.
• Psycho Knife Nut: He's quite fond of both killing people and his combat knife. His original weapon was the blunt Cube Wispon but it's implied that the Wisp's peaceful nature didn't make it something Mimic relied on in combat.
• Poke the Poodle: While Mimic is a dangerous individual, when he shapeshifts into Sonic and tries to smear his reputation the scene is played for laughs with a bunch of minor crimes like graffiti, stealing candy from a baby, and punting a Chao.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Abandons Starline and the other villains after having himself deleted from the Eggnet. While he intended on going after Whisper, he lays low while Eggman is still active and looking for him.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip:
  • Par for the course for a shapeshifter and manipulator like him. In Tangle & Whisper #2, he assumes the forms of the other Diamond Cutters to mock Whisper when she has him pinned, blaming their deaths on her. Subverted in this case, as he ends up pushing Whisper's Relative Button and getting bludgeoned by her with her Variable Wispon in Cube mode, while in Smithy's form.
  • In Tangle & Whisper #4, he pulls this on Tangle by taking Jewel's form to keep her from attacking him. It works for a bit till Tangle uses her tail to hit him from behind
  • Defied when Tangle and Whisper tell Tails to never open the Test Chamber Mimic is imprisoned in "no matter who was inside".
• Shout-Out: The Tangle & Whisper series is rife with Metal Gear Solid references and Mimic is reference to Decoy Octopus. Mimic is the shapeshifting infiltrator for the Diamond Cutters which was Decoy Octopus's role in FOXHOUND.
• Skull for a Head: Mimic has used his shapeshifting power to give his face a skull-like look, all meant to look intimidating and murderous.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He considers himself a professional and is insulted when the prison warden details his List of Transgressions to Starline. Whisper's recordings of their time with the Diamond Cutters hints that Mimic thought too much of himself even then.
  Mimic: There are calculators out there with better security!
  Smithy: Don't get too cocky.
• The Sociopath: Cruel, violent, and entirely driven by self-interest; Mimic can put up a façade of care for others but ultimately he'll throw anyone away for his own goals. He frequently uses his powers to play on others' emotions and can hurt people in very personal ways but actual understanding of those emotions and bonds, beyond manipulation, elude him.
• Spanner in the Works: Zavok was poised to win, until Mimic's penchant for selling out his allies to save his own skin reared its head once more and allowed Starline to clinch victory from Zavok and acquire his own army to make his bid for world domination.
• Squishy Wizard: He's a good manipulator and has some skills, but in direct confrontation once all his advantages are lost, he's not very resilient. Whisper had him dead to rights when they fight at Eggman's base after overcoming his traps. Even when he tries shift into her teammates, it only distracts her temporarily and she would've off'd him then and there if he hadn't revealed that Tangle was trapped in a safe and slowly suffocating, forcing Whisper to break off and save her. In Issue #4, Tangle gives him trouble in a one on one, when he manages to knock her back, he's visibly winded. The following hand to hand with Whisper saps the rest of his strength that, when Tangle wraps him up, he can't break free even when shifting to bigger forms.
• Stealthy Cephalopod: Mimic the Octopus has the uncanny ability to perfectly shapeshift into the form of... pretty much anyone. He uses this talent to work as a master infiltrator and mercenary. His personality reflects this ability - just as he is constantly changing forms, he suffers from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, frequently deceiving and betraying others for his own benefit.
• Team Killer: Mimic killed all of the original Diamond Cutters except for Whisper.
• Tentacled Terror: His true from is that of a purple humanoid octopus, with tentacles for hair and suckers along his bare hands and feet. He's also one of the most disturbing and ruthless villains in Dr. Eggman's employ.
• Tentacle Hair: Mimic has his tentacles on the back of his head to evoke the image of long, wavy hair. However, he only has four of them, with the other four suction cups being on his hands and feet.
• Token Evil Teammate: For the original Diamond Cutters. Mimic was always a slimy piece of work and he only joined their group because it paid well. True to the trope, when things got tough and his own life was threatened, he sold them out to Eggman.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: His Skeleton Motif, relative lack of comical traits, and the paranoiac ambience shapeshifters like him induce make any stories featuring Mimic dark. Even Bad Guys' tone was somewhat light until his patience with Starline ran out.
• Villain Respect:
  • The closest thing to a redeeming quality Mimic has is that he acknowledges that Tangle is a strong fighter and could become formidable with training. Mind you, he gives her this compliment after defeating her and is about to fatally stab her.
  • He expresses a small variation of this when Rough & Tumble take down one of Eggman's stronger robots.
    Starline: I am honestly impressed.
    Mimic: I am too, and I hate it.
• Villain Team-Up:
  • He joins forces with Dr. Starline, Zavok, Rough and Tumble after being sprung out of prison in Bad Guys... at least, until Mimic's Chronic Backstabbing Disorder rears its ugly head after he deletes his file from the Eggnet. He then alerts Eggman of his fellow malefactors exact location before abandoning them to be killed by his air fleet to ensure his own survival.
  • Much, much later, after laying low after the events of the Bad Guys miniseries, he teams up with fellow villain Clutch the Opossum in order to become The Mole for the newly formed Neo Diamond Cutters, later joined by Surge and Kit, who are there to make sure the Restoration stays off his back.
• Voluntary Shapeshifter: His main ability is that he can shapeshift into other people, including their clothing and voices. However, he doesn't gain their abilities, he can't change some parts of his body, and his acting could use work. He can also combine his original look with his "mimics" and alter some of his normal look.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Tangle asks this of his betraying his old team in the final issue of the mini-series. He smugly responds that the choice wasn't difficult since they were putting his life on the line when he was just in it for profit.
• Would Hit a Girl: Has no problem fighting against women. Of course the two after him aren't willing to pull punches either.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In his "Duo" disguise, Mimic puts the finishing touch on forcing a rift between Lanolin and the pair of Silver and Whisper trying to expose him by faking an injury by jumping out of a chair Silver was holding him up in with his psychokinesis and acting like he hurt his arm on impact with the ground. Despite being checked out by a medic, apparently he does a good enough job with the acting that he gets enough sympathy points to waylay suspicions.

Surge the Tenrec

Surge the Tenrec

"Sucks to be them. 'Cuz I aim to misbehave."

Introduced In: Imposter Syndrome #1

A creation of Dr. Starline. A punkish tenrec made to mimic Sonic and his abilities, she wields the speed of light to generate electricity. Currently, working with Clutch.

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• Arrogant Kung-Fu Girl: Has speed and power comparable to Sonic, but with none of the restraint that comes with it.
• Ax-Crazy: Surge is incredibly violent and gets excited at the prospect of fighting and hurting people; Sonic in particular. Much of Surge's bloodlust is a result of brainwashing by Starline. When hiccups in the code appear, Surge begins to question why she's so aggressive and wants to kill someone she's never met.
  • She takes Kit's comment about wanting to help her the wrong way and threatens to drown him with his tails.
    "I hit [Sonic] fast. I hit him hard, and I keep hitting until he doesn't move anymore."
  • Taken to its logical extreme in Imposter Syndrome #3. Upon finding out how Starline effectively robbed her of her life and past, her first instinct upon betraying him is to kill everyone, including Sonic, Eggman and anyone associated with them.
• Badass Boast: How she formally introduces herself to Sonic (after initially confusing him with a Motive Rant).
  Surge: Yeah. Okay. I'm Surge the Tenrec. And your "speed of sound" can't compete with my "speed of light"!
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Despite appearing as little more than a violent thug with arrogance to match, she's shown to be surprisingly introspective. This can be seen when she questions the nature of her and Kit's preprogrammed personalities and realizes that she doesn't understand why she has such a deep grudge against Sonic despite having never met him nor why Kit is so devoted to her despite having no real reason to be. Furthermore, she gradually comes to care about and respect Kit, even if she's too proud to admit so.
• Big Sister Bully: She's technically Kit's older sister, and has no problem belittling and talking down to him.
  • In between #50 and #55 while the two are separated, you see Kit constantly worry about Surge’s whereabouts and is nothing but concerned for the tenrec. Surge, on the other hand, doesn’t even think of Kit, let alone mention him.
• Blinded by Rage: Her Fatal Flaw, bar none. Surge has severe anger (mis)management issues rivaling those of Eggman himself, which undermines her combat prowess and drives her to self-endangerment in hopes of winning, much to both Kit's and her enemies' concern.
  • Her desire for revenge ends up working against her during her first fight with Sonic, which ends in a Curb-Stomp Battle with her on the losing end. Despite being designed and trained specifically to be his successor, Surge could barely get any hits in whilst Sonic spent most of the fight dodging and using Surge's attacks against her. This is because Surge was trained well but had no actual combat experience against another speedster, and Surge was making more mistakes the angrier she got. Sonic was keeping a cool head the whole time, and far more experienced than she was in combat, including from his battles against other speedsters. Sonic wasn't even trying his hardest, which just infuriated Surge even more. Soon enough, Sonic's stamina outdoes hers.
  • In her second round with Sonic, Surge has every advantage that she could ask for: Sonic was injured while escaping from Eggperial City and Surge is powered by Whisper’s Wisps' energy that she stole with the Dynamo Cage. Yet, she becomes enraged the moment Sonic runs away and leads her to a trap. Instead of being wary, she slips on screws and hardware that were spilled in a box which only pisses her off even more. She is so blind with rage that she doesn't notice Tails sneaking up behind her to drain her electric power with jumper cables and then accidentally blows herself up trying to get loose. Only a Villainous Rescue Kit's part spares her a total loss.
• Blood Knight: She is very eager to fight Sonic and Eggman her debut issue and grows increasingly impatient the longer she is denied the opportunity.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Like Eggman, she often squanders the upper-hand by stopping to gloat or go on a tangent.
  • After her initial surprise-attack on Sonic, she stops to give a Motive Rant rather than go in for the kill, giving him the upper-hand when she engages him for real. And when Sonic trips on an injured leg during their rematch, she again stops to taunt him and ramble instead of nailing him while he's down, allowing Whisper and Tails to interfere. By contrast, when she stops playing around and fights more pragmatically during their third fight, she nearly kills Sonic.
  • When she first meets Eggman face to face, Surge has him dead-to-rights with Metal Sonic (who'd just been curb-stomped by Kit while chasing the heroes) still too far away to assist. Yet, rather than off him then and there, she spares him to go after Sonic first, which leads to them ganging up on her and Kit later. While she does try to kill Eggman for real when they next meet, she still takes too long to finish him off and Metal Sonic, Sonic, and Tails soon scare her away.
• Breakout Character: Much like Whisper and Tangle before her, Surge became popular enough to become playable in Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Surge is first teased inside a capsule in Starline's lab in Bad Guys #1, before properly debuting in Imposter Syndrome, the comic's third mini-series.
  Starline: My current long-term plans are on hold until I have the tools necessary to complete my principle creations.
• Clone Angst: In Imposter Syndrome Issue #3, when Surge and Kit discover the truth of Starline's machinations and their origins, she breaks in front of Starline, screaming at him that everything about her revolves around surpassing Sonic and everything she knew before being gone. Despite them not being actual clones of Sonic and Tails, they still embody the spirit of this trope, with Surge being the one shaken the most by this revelation.
  Surge: [My past] is not "irrelevant"! I need context! If I have no past, all I have is this! And "this" is nothing! I'm nobody! I-I-I'm just a knockoff! Everything that I want — that I think I want — is a lie!
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
  • Surge serves as one to Metal Sonic, her fellow dragon and Evil Counterpart to Sonic. Metal Sonic is a cold and calculating Silent Antagonist (outside of his Neo form); Surge, on the other hand, is impulsive and extremely Hot-Blooded, intended to mirror Sonic in personality while Metal more closely emulates his appearance. Furthermore, Metal Sonic is completely artificial, while Surge is a normal person augmented with cybernetic implants to gain her abilities. Finally, they contrast in their dynamic with their respective creators. Metal is completely obedient to Eggman, who in turn dotes over him unlike any of his other minions; in contrast, Surge's belligerent attitude causes her to butt heads with Starline on multiple occasions, and ultimately Starline's mistreatment of her and Kit drives both of them to conspire against him once they learn the truth of their origins.
  • She also serves as one to Infinite from Sonic Forces. Infinite is a jackal that joined Eggman of his own free will after hitting the Phantom Ruby with his sword during a raid with his Jackal Squad on Eggman's base, while Surge is a tenrec that got kidnapped by Starline. Infinite became the person he is today after Shadow mocked him after a beatdown, while Surge finds out the truth of her origins and goes mad. Furthermore, Infinite has the finalized Phantom Ruby prototype while Surge has a modified strain of the Metal Virus.
• Cyborg: Imposter Syndrome #3 reveals that Surge and Kitsunami's electrokinesis and hydrokinesis, amongst other superpowered attributes, stem from cybernetic implants created by Dr. Starline.
• Dark Action Girl: For all her self-defeating traits, Surge quickly establishes herself as one of Sonic's most dangerous enemies, especially when she plays her cards right. Like her counterpart, she is powerful, resourceful, and not one to give up easily.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Played with. Surge has no idea what her life was like before being brainwashed by Dr. Starline, a fact that in itself drives her to villainy. Starline didn't even keep records of what her previous life was like, so she has no way of knowing, which she breaks upon learning in Imposter Syndrome Issue #3. When Surge confronts Sonic in Issue #50, she comes to the conclusion that she either willingly joined Dr. Starline in pursuit of a better life, or she was kidnapped and no one cared about Surge enough to find her. While she ultimately dismisses the pursuit thereof as irrelevant to focus on destroying Sonic and Eggman, when Clutch offers to divulge all he knows about her and Kit to them, she accepts his deal.
• Deadpan Snarker: A trait she shares with Sonic, although Surge is much ruder and more insensitive about it than he is.
• Determinator: A villainous example. Like Sonic, Surge is Defiant to the End and would rather go down fighting than give up, regardless of the odds.
• Distaff Counterpart: She's a female counterpart to Sonic, in that they're both different types of "hedgehogs" (Sonic an actual hedgehog, Surge a tenrec) with Super-Speed.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Surge is not Sonic's first Evil Counterpart, a point he lampshades when they're finally face to face. Surge differentiates herself from the others when its shown that she was forced to be one against her will through brainwashing, leaving her very mentally unstable and holds an Irrational Hatred towards Sonic that she herself does not understand. Sonic's attempts to talk her down fall on deaf ears because Surge was groomed to only want to kill him and she rationalizes she has nothing else to live for besides that. To twist the knife further, despite her best efforts, it's made abundantly clear when she faces Sonic that she stands no chance against him and he's barely taking her seriously.
  • As Sonic points out during their third fight, some of his friends were former enemies. Surge angrily rejects this, stating that she doesn't want his friendship or his pity, she just wants him dead because she feels that she can never be free as long as Sonic is still alive.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Apparently disdains them, given her rueful comment about Eggman's blaster from Sonic Adventure 2 "not being her style". Justified since she's based on Sonic, who follows this trope to the letter.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Sonic recognizes her as a victim from the moment they meet and makes increasingly-desperate attempts to reason with her—all of which she rejects out of hatred and Pride. She refuses to even let him save her from falling down a shaft at the end of their first encounter, instead zapping him just to ensure she "got the last hit".
  Surge: I don't want your pity or your friendship! I want you gone!
  Sonic: But why?! Starline's not here to make you do anything! Freedom is right there, waiting for you! Just take it!
  Surge: (with a sad, resigned smile) ...I can't.
• Dual Boss: During her rematch with Sonic in Issue #56, she and Kit decide to fight their counterparts, having both decided that there's no backing out of this.
• Dumb Muscle: Downplayed. Surge isn't "dumb", per se, but by her own admission is simpler-minded than Starline or Kit, being predisposed towards using brute force to solve problems. Ironically, she dismisses Sonic's own preference for simplicity as naïvity on his part.
  Surge: Look, I get you brainy-types like to think of all the angles, but me and that faker-boy (Sonic) are simple creatures.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She and Kit show in the main comic in #46 in silhouette before their proper debut(s) in Imposter Syndrome.
• Electrified Bathtub: Her third fight with Sonic has her take full advantage of her electric powers by electricuting the water with Sonic in it. He's lucky to have Eggman bail him out the first time she tries this, but nearly (possibly even temporarily, due to the sheer amount of power being used) dies when she tries it again.
• Everything's Better with Rainbows: When Surge equips herself with the Dynamo Cage and starts absorbing the powers of Whisper's Wisps, she gains a rainbow aura, with the aura changing colors depending on the Wisp power she uses. Otherwise, she is mostly surrounded by a white light with rainbow colors flickering over her body.
• Evil Counterpart: The "imposter" of Sonic in Imposter Syndrome, as stated by Starline himself. Specifically, Starline designed her mostly around Sonic's "attitude". Much like her counterpart, she's even able to use the power of the Wisps, utilizing them and her own electrokinesis to very nearly kill Sonic during their third match until the Dynamo Cage overloads and the Wisps escape.
• Expy: She visually draws some comparisons to Scourge from the Archie comics being a green, psychotic Evil Counterpart to Sonic, especially with the black marking on her face evoking the same "Ashura" glitch as Scourge and his crown. Her Extreme Gear racing outfit takes it even further, giving her a punkish-looking jacket and red/orange-tinted sunglasses reminiscent of Scourge's.
• Fast as Lightning: She generates electricity whenever she runs and can fire electric bolts.
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Done tragically. Surge's entire purpose, engraved into her very being by Starline, was to be a copy of Sonic. Even with Starline dead, Surge feels that she never be free until Sonic is dead.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: While Sonic may not know the full story, he does understand that at her core, Surge is a victim. That said, he makes it clear that while he will do whatever he can to help her, if she chooses to do evil, then she's going down. As he warns her in Issue #67, harming his loved ones for any reason whatsoever is a big red line she'd do well not to cross.
  • During the third fight with Surge, Tails tells Kit that while he understands what Starline did to them, it doesn't justify Surge hurting others or herself. Neither Kit nor Surge herself care, much to Tails' and Sonic's disappointment.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Imposter Syndrome #3, after learning the truth of her and Kit's origins, and discovering that Starline kept no records of their past, Surge goes completely off the deep end and desires to destroy everything.
• Green and Mean: She's even called the "Mean Green" on the "Role Call" page of the issues she stars in, not unlike Sonic's "Blue Blur" title. This follows the post-Dreamcast era trend of rival speedsters' bodies and eyes being colored inversely to Sonic's.
• Hallucinations: Upon equipping herself with the Dynamo Cage in Issue 53, she starts hallucinating the fallen Dr Starline who exists to torment her. The hallucination returns in Issue 54 after Kit rescues Surge, reminding Surge that she can't escape from him. Worse still, Kit can't see what she sees so he doesn't know about her hallucinations.
• Healing Factor: She notes in Imposter Syndrome #3 that she "heals fast".
• Hero Killer: Possibly. In their showdown in the finale of the Overpowered arc, Surge manages to knock Sonic into a pool of water and shock the living crap out of him, keeping up the pressure until the Dynamo Cage overloads and explodes, knocking her out and freeing the Wisps. Given Sonic's expression and visible gasp awake after, as well as comments from the BumbleKast, it's heavily implied that Surge may have briefly stopped Sonic's heart, making her the second person to succeed in (temporarily) killing Sonic in the mainline series continuity after Mephiles the Dark.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: After thwarting all of Sonic, Tails, and Eggman's efforts to De-power her in Overpowered and coming within a split-second of killing Sonic, Surge ultimately causes her own downfall by overtaxing the Dynamo Cage she stole from Eggman, blowing it up, incapacitating herself, and forcing Kit to retreat with her in tow. Her own weapon, and misuse of it, became her undoing.
• Hypocrite:
  • Surge treats Kitsunami just as badly as (if not worse than) Starline treats her, she expects people to listen to her—be it Starline, Kitsunami or Cubot—while making no effort to do the same, she calls Sonic an ego-driven jerk/egomaniac when her own ego is just as big as Sonic's is (if not more so) and she is more of a brat than she believes Tails is. Likewise, she vows to do better than Starline after learning of his death...only to immediately repeat his mistake of stealing Eggman's tech (without fully understanding how it works) for a power boost.
  • Despite lambasting Sonic for his Thou Shalt Not Kill attitude towards Eggman, when given the chance to put an end to Eggman herself in #53, she forgoes killing him to prioritize getting revenge on Sonic despite effectively having the doctor dead to rights. To her credit, she does attempt to kill Eggman directly in #55, but he is saved by Metal Sonic before Sonic and Tails come and scare her off.
  • At one point, she focuses on gaining more power to destroy Sonic, showing no concern for Kit or his well-being. By the time they reunite, she tells him not to abandon her again.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Her teal eyes reflect her lightning motif and cold heart. Much like Kit's, they glow when her powers are active.
• Ironic Echo: To her confoundment, Sonic in their first clash insists she can pull a Heel–Face Turn "just like that", should she so choose. Come #67, when she and Kit feign reformation to infiltrate the Restoration, she wastes no time turning Sonic's earlier words back at him.
• Irrational Hatred: She has an intense dislike of Sonic, to the point where she openly states her desire to beat him to death, not appear weaker than him, and even wipe her feet on his grave after putting him in it. Of course, that last one was only known to readers AFTER it was made clear that Starline overwrote her original personality and potential stance on Sonic with a punk persona and enmity towards the Blue Blur. After 232 sessions of hypnosis and brainwashing. Surge notes to Sonic in an almost lamenting tone that she couldn't really drop her hateful personality even if she wanted to.
• Large Ham: Being based on Sonic's attitude and ego, she enjoys showing off and loudly bragging.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Even more so than Sonic, given her temperament and predisposition towards brute force. Her recklessness and the trouble it gets her into is where Kit comes in.
• Lightning Bruiser: As she lampshades in Imposter Syndrome #3 when rebelling against him, Starline has to choose between power or speed with his Tricore, while she has both.
• Lightning/Wind Juxtaposition: Fittingly for his Evil Counterpart and Foil, she is the Lightning to Sonic's Wind.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Is this to Kit, and vice-versa. She feels more secure with him around as they grow closer, while he heavily relies on her for direction and becomes sad and disoriented without her.
• Malicious Misnaming: She calls Starline Starlame by Imposter Syndrome #4, though considering Starline's sheer douchebaggery, it's pretty well-deserved.
• Manipulative Bastard: When her Ax-Crazy temper is controlled, Surge is surprisingly devious. After deciding to rebel against Starline, she and Kit decide to bide their time and let all sides work against each other, playing to Starline's arrogance and letting him think their earlier conflict was All Just a Dream. Later on, during their partnership with Clutch, it is Surge that concocts the Falsely Reformed Villain scheme, knowing Sonic would feel the need to grant them a second chance; while the heroes do suspect ulterior motives, only Whisper voices her concerns to Surge's face.
• Meaningful Name: "Surge" refers to her electric powers, similar to an [electrical] power surge.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Surge is based on the Green Sonic/Ashura glitch from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. She shares the glitch's color palette, alongside a tenrec being a similar animal to a hedgehog.
  • She is a spiritual successor to Scourge the Hedgehog from the Archie Comics, who likewise was an Evil Counterpart of Sonic's inspired by the Green Sonic/Ashura glitch. This is reflected in her name being S(co)urge, the fact that tenrecs are of a similar design to hedgehogs, and her identical goal as Scourge of proving that she's better than Sonic. Even her Sanity Slippage in Imposter Syndrome #3 could be seen as an homage to Scourge, who underwent something similar in his Super Scourge form and began ranting about his intentions to "spindash both worlds^note Sonic's homeworld of Mobius and his own homeworld of Moebius in half" before moving on through the multiverse, conquering and destroying as the whim took him.
  • Coincidentally/ironically/fittingly, her electric power is also something that the movie incarnation of Sonic has.
• Near-Villain Victory: Surge comes close to (or possibly even does, at least temporarily) killing Sonic by electrocuting him in a puddle, only failing due to the Dynamo Cage finally overloading, destroying it once and for all and causing her to fall unconscious.
• Never Found the Body: The last anyone saw of Surge, she was hanging over a bottomless pit before chunks of debris rained down on her. Sonic never saw her fall, but there was seemingly nowhere else she could have gone. Her fate was unknown until the next issue revealed she was slowly recovering in a junkyard under the city.
• Nightmare Face: An Extreme Close-Up of her face can be this if detailed enough, especially when Adam Bryce Thomas draws her. The one she makes in Issue #55 when she corners Eggman in Starline's base looks particularly freaky.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Surge's opponents barely take her seriously in her debut, as even after acquiring the Dynamo Cage, her raw power and fighting skills are nothing against Sonic, Tails, and Eggman's experience. However, she soon proves much more dangerous than first thought, so much so that even Sonic and Metal Sonic combined are no match for her in a straight fight, with the former going from snarking at and dominating her in their first round to panicking and at her mercy in their third. Sonic's near-death at her hands in Issue #56 fully cements her as no run-of-the-mill doppelgänger, and come their next meeting in Issue #67, he's a lot warier of her.
• Not the Intended Use: Eggman’s Dynamo Cage was only designed to absorb the powers of Wisps, but Surge uses it in conjunction with her abilities to absorb all forms of energy.
• Oddball Doppelgänger: She's a tenrec (lesser hedgehog) who resembles Sonic, but takes Sonic's Mascot with Attitude status even further, becoming a Blood Knight who's incredibly self-centered and violent.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Becomes this by the end of Imposter Syndrome #3. Upon finding out she and Kit were cybernetically modified and that Starline kept no records of their pasts, she goes completely insane and decides to destroy everything in revenge.
  Surge: We burn it all down! Sonic! Eggman! Every idiot that follows either of them! We end it all! No more heroes! Villains! Nothing! If we don't get a past, they don't get a future!
• Power Floats: During her third match with Sonic, she's able to use the Hover Wisp's power to float, allowing her to catch up to Sonic.
• Power High: The Dynamo Cage had an addictive effect on her, to the point where draining Starline's base until the breakers flip still isn't enough for her. Later she satisfies the urge by absorbing the Egg Walker's Chaos Drive and when fighting Metal Sonic, absorbs his Black Barrier when it traps her hand.
• Psycho Electro: She's got a wild personality and an electric powerset. Her piercings and rings are used to better conduct her electricity.
• The Quincy Punk: The quills on her head are bent forward similar to a mohawk and she wears a black shirt with torn-off sleeves, a metal ring on each of her index and ring fingers, metal earrings and studded bracelets. She is also bloodthirsty, arrogant and foul-tempered.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Kit's blue. Surge is angry, aggressive, and always eager for action whilst Kit is passive, withdrawn, and shy. She's the main driving force of the duo and tends to boss Kit around, to his dismay.
• Resurrective Immortality: Implied. Imposter Syndrome #3 has a montage of her and Kit being defeated and implicitly dying multiple times in "training sessions" in one of Dr. Starline's recordings, with Starline noting that each time it happened, he had to "revive them".
• Sanity Slippage: While Surge was never the most sane person, her sanity gets worse with the overuse of the Dynamo Cage, which manifests an hallucination of the late Dr. Starline, who openly mocks her about how the misuse of the device will drive her insane.
• Scary Teeth: She has a row full of sharp fangs in her mouth, giving her a huge Slasher Smile when she grins.
• Shock and Awe: As her name indicates, Surge's signature attribute is electrokinesis. She does this charging electric energy within herself à la Blanka, and does this more efficiently using her metallic accessories as a conductor.
• Smug Super: Surge views herself as Sonic's superior in every way and never misses an opportunity to brag about it.
• The Starscream: After overpowering Starline in Imposter Syndrome #3, she and Kit plan to backstab the platypus after helping him usurp Eggman. Sonic and Tails defeat them before they can go through with it, but Eggman does away with Starline anyhow.
• Stealth Pun: She's a tenrec, a species so similar to the more popular hedgehog, they often get mistaken for one.
• Super-Speed: Like the hedgehog she's based on, Surge is extremely fast, right down to having his signature spin-dash. She herself boasts she can hit lightspeed, and she's definitely as fast as the lightning she uses.
• Superior Successor: What she and Kit are intended to be to Sonic and Tails.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Scourge the Hedgehog, with a name almost identical to his, a green-and-black color scheme with blue eyes, and being an Evil Counterpart to Sonic.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed. She begins to care more about Kit, showing appreciation for his help and concern for him after the fight with Metal Sonic. She is still evil, but she’s come far from threatening to drown Kit for petty reasons.
• Tough Spikes and Studs: Surge is a vicious Blood Knight, created with the intention of being Sonic's superior replacement. Her gloves have black cuffs with six metal studs on each wrist and her shoes have metal plates embedded with studs. Uniquely, these accessories actually serve a functional purpose as conductors for her electrokinesis.
• Tragic Villain: While her bloodlust and Lack of Empathy make her tricky to sympathise with, it's hard to ignore it's all part of her artificial personality implanted by Starline to make her an effective weapon, essentially robbing her of her free will and right to choose.
• Uncertain Doom: Her fight with Sonic in Issue #50 ended with her dangling over a deep pit. Despite Sonic's attempt at rescue, Surge chose to zap him instead, leaving her vulnerable to debris from above coming down on her. When Sonic looks back, Surge is nowhere to be found, and Sonic assumes she had fallen. Though he admits she's pretty tough, he has doubts she could have survived. That said, she and Kit are extra durable due to the use of the Metal Virus in their creation, making it more likely that she could have survived the fall. It's later revealed to have survived due to her regenerative powers and is currently on the mend.
• Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: The Dynamo Cage, which she steals from Eggman in Overpowered, is clearly a Flawed Prototype, a fact she disregards in her haste to use it against Sonic. This becomes her downfall at the end of the same arc, where her reckless use of the device overloads and destroys it a split second short of killing Sonic, incapacitating her in the process. Kit likely discards the device's remains offscreen and she's apparently learned her lesson come her next appearance, remarking to Sonic and Amy that she's ''had her fill of gadgets".
• Unknown Rival: Has an intense hatred of Sonic and upon finally meeting him, gives him a What the Hell, Hero? moment in his leniency with dealing with his enemies and Sonic's response is to more or less brush it off and enjoy their fight. It becomes increasingly clear during said fight that Sonic isn't taking her anywhere near as seriously as she is towards him. Perhaps justified in that until their meeting, Sonic had no idea who she was or that she existed.
• Vengeance Denied: She plots to turn on Starline following their coup on Eggperial City. Starline dies before any of this can happen, however. While Surge initially shrugs him off as an unworthy target anyway and turns her attention to Sonic and Eggman instead, it is later made apparent she holds scars over being denied resolution against her abusive master.
• Villain Has a Point: Zig-Zagged on two separate occasions:
  • Her "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Sonic in Issue #50 amounts to a recap of all his mistakes in the comic up to that point, and on most counts, she's correct. However, while Sonic and Eggman's fights led to Starline, neither Sonic nor Eggman should be held accountable for the kidnapping and experiments that Starline did. Sonic was never in much of a position to stop Starline and Eggman stopped being responsible for Starline the moment he fired him. It was Starline’s attachment to Eggman and the need to feel superior and above the dynamic of Eggman and Sonic that created Surge and Kit.
  • Her speech in Issue #54 has her accuse Sonic of being holier-than-thou and asking where he gets off telling her how to be, which would be true...were she not causing property damage, forcefully absorbing wisps, and willingly endangering lives.
• Villainous Friendship: With Kit, to a degree. She's still his superior and has no qualms about bossing him around, but he's the closest she has to a friend and the only character she shows any respect for. When Kit (who got separated from her upon their defeats against Sonic and Tails) reunites with her in Issue #54 and gives her a Cooldown Hug, she's noticeably touched and quickly forgives him for his absence. In #55, after realizing that Sonic and Tails teamed up with Eggman to stop her, she actually shows concern for Kit’s well-being instead of just her own. It’s the first time she actually reciprocates and acknowledges Kit as her partner without belligerence.
• Villain Protagonist: Of Imposter Syndrome, along with Kit.
• Villain Respect: Given her scorn for Sonic and the Restoration's All-Loving Hero tendencies, Surge is impressed when Whisper refuses to fall for her and Kit's ploy even when the sniper's friends vouch for the pair.
  Surge: Finally! You're the first one with any sense here. I can tell you want to take me out right now. I like you.
• Villainous RRoD: After the Dynamo Cage overloads and breaks due to her careless use of it, releasing Whisper's Wisps in the process, Surge is burnt out due to the sheer amount of power she used and summarily faints. She was last seen being carried away by Kit, still unconscious, until their next appearance in Issue #67.
• Weak-Willed: Played for Drama. Starline specifically programmed her and Kit to be susceptible to his brainwashing in order for him to keep them in line. When they get too out of control, he simply erases their short-term memory, "rebooting" them so to speak.
• Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: Despite Starline's training and Surge's own ferocity, Sonic was spending most of the fight successfully avoiding and countering attacks, likely due to having plenty of years of experience fighting villains and saving the world. He even highlights during the fight how he's tussled with foes like Surge before, though he does admit she's a challenge.
• Wheel o' Feet: Similar to Sonic, Surge's feet become a blurry yellow wheel or figure-eight whenever she runs.

Kit the Fennec

Kitsunami "Kit" the Fennec

"Get back to Surge! Support Surge! Be with Surge!"

Introduced In: Imposter Syndrome #1

A creation of Dr. Starline. A somber-looking fennec fox made to mimic Miles "Tails" Prower, he uses a water pack strapped to his back to create multiple tails. Currently, working with Clutch.

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• Arch-Enemy: To Tails. When he, Surge, and Mimic infiltrate the Restoration for Clutch and plan to destroy it from the inside, Kit specifically asks if Tails will be a target.
• Badass Adorable: The cutest villain in the comic, and one of only two characters (the other being Zavok) to fend off Metal Sonic on his own.
• Berserk Button: Harming Surge in any way, shape, or form is the best way to incur his wrath.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: For the most part, Kit appears to play the role of a somewhat meek, obedient, and nonconfrontational sidekick to the more upfront and violent Surge. Gradually, however, it becomes clear that he might actually be the scarier of the two. Surge, like Sonic, wears her emotions on her sleeve, while Kit tends to surpress his anger for the most part, meaning he can suddenly erupt into a full-blown psychotic rage if sufficiently provoked.
• Break the Cutie: He's implied to have been much nicer and happier before Starline's experimentations—plus additional abuse from Surge—reduced him to what he is now. Tails outright states that Kit has been badly traumatized by his superiors' cruelty.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Kit is first teased inside a capsule in Starline's lab in Bad Guys #1, before properly debuting in Imposter Syndrome, the series third mini-series.
  Starline: My current long-term plans are on hold until I have the tools necessary to complete my principle creations.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Whereas most of Tails' rivals are rude, egotistical, and/or a number of years his senior, Kit is roughly his counterpart's age, holds a very low opinion of himself, and never engages in trash-talk regardless of his mood. Furthermore, he seems less mechanically apt than the rest of Tails' fellow technicians; he can hack computers and sabotage a comm array in minutes, but not create his own inventions from scratch.
• Corrupt the Cutie: He's introduced as the timid, passive foil to the relentlessly hostile Surge, and at one point seems ready to join the Restoration where he can learn to shake off Starline's conditioning. But several miscommunications and his brainwashed subservience to Surge's whims push him closer and closer to the brink, until he ends their arc hating the world just as much as she does.
• Creepy Child: With his volatile personality, Emo appearance, and aesthetically eerie powers, he can very much be this at times.
• Cyborg: Imposter Syndrome #3 reveals that Surge and Kitsunami's electrokinesis and hydrokinesis, amongst other superpowered attributes, stem from cybernetic implants created by Dr. Starline.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Kit is Surge's sidekick, basically being the answer to Tails. Like Surge, however, this role was forced upon him, and while Surge has her hatred of Sonic to motivate her, Kit has nothing driving him besides his desire to help Surge. He quickly falls apart when she's not around to tell him what to do, and since he's more concerned about her than fighting, Tails is able to subdue him fairly easily. Kit shows how devoting your entire life to someone else is detrimental to one's own self-esteem and sense of identity, something Tails grew out of ages ago.
  • Kit's dependency is taken further in Issue #53 when Sonic tells the truth about Surge (supposedly) falling to her death and Starline getting crushed by rubble. Helping Surge was Kit's life, but with her "gone", he immediately latches onto Sonic and supports him instead. The poor kid needs someone to serve because he doesn't have anything else.
    Belle: Gears and starters—you have to look after yourself!
    Kit: Look after myself...why? I was made for her (Surge). She's gone. But Sonic can use me too. I won't lose him. I can't.
  • Furthermore, in Issue #54, despite his willingness to work with the heroes, he ends up going back to Surge upon finding out that she's still alive. He even asks Sonic why he'd even need him when he already has Tails, implying that he only ever sees himself as someone who exists to serve.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Sports them a lot due to the mental and emotional damage he's suffered, as illustrated in his profile pic. They can also be part of a Death Glare when he's in a bad mood.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He and Surge show in the main comic in #46 in silhouette before their proper debut(s) in Imposter Syndrome.
• Enemy Mine: In Issue #52, he teams up with Sonic, Tails, and Belle to get out of Eggperial City.
• Enfant Terrible: A child, and one of the bad guys.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A tragic case. Kit is so used to being mistreated that he struggles to process kindness when shown it, not understanding why he'd be bothered with out of the goodness of someone's heart instead of pure necessity.
• Evil Counterpart: The "imposter" of Tails in Imposter Syndrome. Essentially, Starline designed him as a support to Surge and not much else, leaving the poor kid with a lot of self-esteem issues.
• Expressive Ears: Befitting his personality, his huge ears are always drooped backwards, only perking up when he's airborne or startled.
• Expy: Just as Surge is this and a spiritual successor to Scourge the Hedgehog (Sonic's Evil Counterpart from another universe) Kit is this for Fiona Fox sans any romantic elements. He's a fox who is devoted to a Green and Mean Speedster despite the relationship being toxic, abusive, and (initially) one-sided. And just as Fiona opted to break Scourge out of the No-Zone Prison instead of striking out on her own, the moment Kit learns of Surge's survival he immediately goes back running to her.
• Extreme Doormat: Kit is very Weak-Willed and easily bossed around, spending most of his introduction taking verbal abuse from his "sister", Surge. In fact, he's such a doormat that he has no idea what to do unless Surge tells him; as such, Tails easily manages to talk him down from their fight...at least until Tails tries to interfere with Sonic and Surge's fight. He eventually comes to resent Tails enough to give him more motivation besides helping Surge, but his co-dependency on her remains.
• Fangs Are Evil: His upper canines are bared when he screams or grits his teeth. Depending on his mood, they're either this or Cute Little Fangs.
• Faint in Shock: Losing to Tails the first time around causes Kit to pass out in shame, which prompts Tails to carry him to safety. Upon hearing Surge may be dead, Kit develops a Thousand-Yard Stare and again faints on the spot.
• Foil: To Tails and Metal Sonic, being both a speedster's mechanically-apt Kid Sidekick and another villain's Hyper-Competent Dragon (complete with almost the same color scheme as the latter, to boot). While all three are devoted to and fiercely protective of their respective partners, Kit lacks Tails' self-worth or Metal's tenacity: he literally sees nothing to live for but helping Surge and would rather throw a fight to do so than finish the job himself (even if he has the upper-hand), whereas Tails doesn't let his bond with Sonic hold him back and Metal is willing to neglect Eggman to get at his heroic template.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted with his Extreme Gear racing outfit. Fittingly for him, his racing goggles resemble a noseless scuba-diving mask.
• Healing Factor: Given the revelations about Surge and Kit in Imposter Syndrome #3, it's logical that he has similar regenerative abilities to Surge.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: His hair often obscures/overshadows one or both of his eyes when he expresses malintent or despair. While only his glowing irises are visible in most cases, his sclerae occasionally show as well while his upper face is still blacked-out, creating an emo or "bandit mask" sort of look.
• An Ice Person: Can freeze his water when particularly agitated.
• Improperly Paranoid: Surge is the only person he fully trusts or likes, and he assumes the worst about virtually anyone else. For example, when he finds Sonic and Tails with a beaten Surge after they'd told him she'd died, he furiously jumps the conclusion that they lied to manipulate him, not even giving them a chance to a explain. His trust issues most likely stem from being tortured and gaslit by Starline.
• I Surrender, Suckers: In his rematch against Tails, Kit lets himself be talked down again to keep his counterpart occupied while Surge deals with Sonic. The heroes fall for it, allowing Kit to catch them off-guard after Surge's defeat and escape with her in tow.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Kit is the only person Surge is able to feel safe around, as when she's in the midst of a psychosis-induced panic-attack, he's able to help her calm down just by mere presence alone. Surge herself is this to Kit in return.
• Logical Weakness: Being a hydromancer, Kit is vulnerable to electric shocks, including lightning-based attacks. Additionally, his backpack has an "off" switch to prevent him from restocking his water supply.
• Making a Splash: Kit's hydrokinesis lets him manipulate water generated from his backpack. Using it, he can hover, propel himself at near-Super-Speed, create powerful water tendrils, and project bubbles strong enough to hold Metal Sonic. His pack absorbs moisture from the air, allowing him to recharge it if his water supply runs low.
• Meaningful Name: Kitsunami's name is a mash-up of two Japanese words that actually describe him fairly well, "kitsune" is Japanese for fox, and "nami" means wave, hinting at his water-based tail powers. It also sounds like "tsunami", a particularly large type of wave.
• Mood-Swinger: Kit is emotionally volatile as a result of Starline and Surge's abuse, not helped by the fact that he's Just a Kid. He can go from timid to enraged and back on a dime, especially if Surge is threatened or her business interfered with.
• Morality Pet: Played with, since Kit doesn't stop Surge from being evil. In growing closer to him, though, Surge becomes less self-centered and actually shows she cares about him, even significantly toning down the bully-like behavior. Basically, through Kit, Surge is able to show she isn't just a villain out to destroy the world.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Between his role as a support unit and lack of self-worth, Kit needs to serve someone, regardless of who it is. Even if Surge isn't around, he'll just gravitate towards someone else.
• Mythology Gag: Kit is inspired by the Blue Knuckles glitch of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. In that game, once Blue Knuckles finishes a stage, the game would identify him as Tails. Lastly, the fennec fox is, well, a fox just like Tails.
• Never Say "Die": Averted. He's thus far the only character in the comic to use the word "kill" in any tense, specifically at the end of Imposter Syndrome #2 where he frets about Surge's injuries from the Egg Breaker fight.
• Nightmare Face: Kit sports some very sinister expressions in his more violent moments, often coupling a Face Framed in Shadow with Glowing Eyes of Doom. His expression during his cameo in Issue #46 is particularly noteworthy, adding a Slasher Smile to the mix to truly menacing effect.
• Not Quite Flight: He can use his water pack as a jetpack by using streams of water to hover, but lacks Tails' extra tail to use as helicopter rotors and can't flap his huge ears like Cream.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Don't let his cuteness and timidity fool you: while not as forewardly violent as Surge, Kit's threat level arguably exceeds hers. His hydrokinesis gives him Super-Strength despite his size, he can be harder to predict than some other villains, and he's a No-Nonsense Nemesis to any who get on his bad side.
  Kit: (to Tails) No misunderstanding. This is entirely by design. It takes approximately 118 milliliters of liquid and 40 seconds to drown. (grins) This shouldn't take long.
• Oddball Doppelgänger: He's a fennec fox who resembles Tails, but takes Tails' initial Shrinking Violet personality even further, due to the tongue lashings he gets from Surge.
• Perpetual Frowner: Downplayed. He's usually nervous, crestfallen, or wearing a Tranquil Fury Death Glare, juxtaposing Surge's Slasher Smiles in shots where they pose together. That being said, he still smiles more often than most cases of this trope.
• Prehensile Tail: Kit's backpack produces "hydro-coil tails", water tentacles that he uses for combat. Their design brings to mind the many-tailed kitsune from which he draws his name.
• Punny Name: A combination of "kitsune" and "tsunami". His nickname, "Kit", both means a young fox and refers to his backpack.
• Purple Is Powerful: His eyes flare purple whenever he uses his hydrokinesis, and he's arguably even more dangerous than Surge when he has a full water tank and the right motivation.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Before leaving Sonic and Tails for dead in Starline's Collapsing Lair, Kit tears down the former over his All-Loving Hero tendencies, believing that, in reality, the hedgehog only wants prove his own point, much like Eggman and Starline.
  Kit: Starline. Eggman. You. You're all the same. You don't need me or Surge. You want us. All that matters is what we can do, how you can change us. So you can prove that your way is right.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes glow magenta or light red when his powers are active.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue (figuratively and literally) to Surge's red. Surge is angry, aggressive, and always eager for action whilst Kit is passive, withdrawn, and shy. Kit's purpose is to act as Surge's support and help her when she gets into trouble.
• Resurrective Immortality: Implied. Imposter Syndrome #3 has a montage of him and Surge being defeated and implicitly dying multiple times in "training sessions" in one of Dr. Starline's recordings, with Starline noting that each time it happened, he had to "revive them".
• Satellite Character: He was designed to be this In-Universe, and it's a horrific deconstruction of the concept: he has absolutely no sense of self-worth and cannot envision an existence where he isn't devoted to somebody else.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He ends Issue #56 disgusted with both Sonic and Eggman, and decides to collapse the entire lab on them all while he escapes with Surge in tow.
• Shout-Out: He bears a striking resemblance to the King of Sorrow, the Final Boss of Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, and is similarly depressive. His water pack also brings FLUDD to mind with how he hovers or dashes using streams of water.
• Shrinking Violet: Kit is incredibly shy and easily led around by the much more forceful Starline and Surge. At one point, he starts crying when Surge yells at him.
• Skewed Priorities: His devotion to Surge borders on an unhealthy obsession, being more concerned with appeasing her than winning his fight with Tails or fleeing Eggtropolis when Eggman regains control of it. Even while under attack from Metal Sonic, Kit still would rather find Surge (and suffer her wrath) than escape. Sonic has to convince him to focus on the here-and-now, which gets Kit to focus but merely makes Sonic a substitute Living Emotional Crutch until Kit is reunited with Surge later on, with Kit then immediately dropping everything to defect back to her.
• The Smart Guy: As Tails' counterpart, and fitting in with their species' stereotype, Kit acts as the brains to Surge's brawn, with she herself noting that he's "supposed to be the smart one". He even renders Tails Out-Gambitted in their second bout, making him one of the few characters to successfully outwit the two-tailed fox.
• Spanner in the Works: Acts as one during the Overpowered arc. While he ultimately sides with Surge in the end, Kit still prevents Eggman from capturing her or destroying Sonic at the latter's most vulnerable.
• Squishy Wizard: Kit’s hydrokinesis is powerful, having lots of useful abilities and able to restrain the likes of Metal Sonic, but when he runs out of water, he is pathetic both physically and psychologically. This is demonstrated during his fight against Tails, who wins by evading Kit until his backpack runs dry and accidentally knocks him out while he's having an emotional breakdown. Spin-Dashing is the one technique Kit can perform without water, and he rarely bothers using it.
• The Starscream: He and Surge aim to backstab Starline at his most vulnerable after helping him usurp Eggman. Sonic and Tails defeat them before they can go through with it, but Eggman does away with Starline anyhow.
• Superior Successor: What he and Surge are intended to be to Sonic and Tails.
• Suppressed Rage: His most frequent mood besides fear or sorrow. Kit rarely blows his stack altogether, instead conveying his wrath via dead-silence and the stink-eye both in and out of combat. It's especially pronounced in Issue #67, where until he's guaranteed a rematch with Tails, he's constantly simmering with anger, even more so than Surge herself.
• Tough Spikes and Studs: He wears studded cuffs and footwear just like Surge. While nowhere near as bold as her, he is also powerful in his own right.
• Tragic Villain: Even more so than Surge. Kit's goal is to surpass his counterpart Tails with the addition of keeping Surge safe, regardless of whoever else gets hurt. And much like Surge, Kit's wants are all a façade made by Starline to make him a subservient weapon with no real thoughts or desires of his own. Due to this, Sonic and Tails take pity on him almost immediately, much to his astonishment.
• Undying Loyalty: His sole concern is for the welfare of Surge even above his own life, and this is revealed to be part of Starline's programming. When first asked, Kit genuinely doesn't know why he thinks Surge is so important, and Imposter Syndrome #3 features recordings of Starline brainwashing Kit to be a support unit. Even after learning of this, he continues to stand by Surge, even foregoing a normal, honest life in favor of being with her.
• Unfulfilled Purpose Misery: When Surge was believed to be dead, he instantly fell into a deep depression. When he eventually saw Sonic fighting on the news, he immediately rushed to provide support, regardless of his own physical and mental well-being.
• Ungrateful Bastard: He rejoins Surge without a second thought even after the heroes save his life and treat him better than she or Starline ever did. During his Villainous Rescue in Issue #56, he coldly ignores Sonic's thanks before trying to kill him and Tails, and in Issue #67, he, unlike his partner, doesn't even pretend to appreciate the Restoration's hospitality or be remotely repetant of his actions towards them.
• Villainous Friendship: With Surge, to a degree. Despite her abuse and Kit's own subservience to her, she is still the closest thing has to a friend and, by the Eggman's Legacy Saga's conclusion, the only person he has any faith in. Surge herself is initially indifferent, but gradually comes to care about him in turn, privately admitting so for the first time in Issue #55.
• Villain Protagonist: Of Imposter Syndrome, along with Surge.
• Villainous Rescue: One of his main duties is rescuing Surge when she gets in over her head.
  • After finding out that Surge is still alive after being told in Issue #53 that she perished, Kit takes Surge back to their old room in Starline's base.
  • When Eggman backstabs Sonic and Tails to get ahold of Surge, Kit intervenes to save the latter three. When Sonic thanks him, Kit clarifies he did it for Surge (who'd fainted again) and only saved the heroes by proximity, having earlier duped Tails into thinking he'd relented.
• Weaksauce Weakness: To Kit's annoyance, Tails can easily dispel his water tails by spinning his own. After seeing this happen thrice, Kit resorts to outsmarting his counterpart instead, to greater success.
• Weak-Willed: Like with Surge, he is susceptible to Starline's brainwashing to keep him under his control. Imposter Syndrome #3 implies that he was weak-willed even before Starline got to him; it only took 33 sessions of brainwashing to turn him into his present state, while it took 232 sessions to do the same to Surge.
• When He Smiles: Does so when relieved, excited about helping Surge, or victorious in combat. He also gives a Psychotic Smirk or Slasher Smile from time to time.

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