PSA: Headscratchers is a place to try and find In-Universe explanations. Try to avoid natter, going too off-topic and/or first person language. If a bullet has something you feel is incorrect, just fix it.
Who are the three solders in the beginning of the movie Robotnik trips up before meeting Knuckles?
Bounty hunters/trackers from another dimension that Knuckles hired/agreed to work with to find Sonic. Not that the movie tells you this, you have to read IDW's prequel comic to find that out.
Even without that, it is apparent from context that they are Mooks working for Knuckles, of no major significance to the movie's plot.
How did the quill Robotnik used to fuel his makeshift satellite still have power in it? Didn't Sonic drain it of its power during the climax of the previous film?
Maybe they're rechargeable.
G.U.N's plan to catch Sonic had a massive hole in it - it completely relied on him actually attending the wedding with Tom and Maddie which he wasn't planning to do. Did they have a back up plan if he didn't show? Or were they just assuming that he would attend the wedding?
Presumably the idea behind Randall marrying Rachael was for him to infiltrate the family in the long term with the G.U.N. members attending the wedding being prepared in case Sonic happened to show up.
Alternatively, the G.U.N. agents at the wedding were planted so Rachel would believe them to be Randall’s friends. Then, he would invite them to dinner some night and they would be able to gang up on Sonic at dinner.
Alternatively alternatively, it could have been a law enforcement bureaucracy issue. Federal agents such as G.U.N. typically need the cooperation of local law enforcement. In Montana (or at least Green Hills), Sonic is a known quantity and likely accepted by the local police as a citizen (state police deferring to one of their own town sheriffs), which would lead them to be opposed to G.U.N. trying to arrest him if he had not committed any specific crime. Especially after the events of the first movie, it is entirely possible that G.U.N. asked at the state level, was told no, and the state officers felt no need to notify Green Hills' police there had even been a request. In Hawaii, G.U.N. had a much freer hand.
As a chilling possibility, Tom and Maddie were the backup plan. If Sonic does show, he's captured. If not, Tom and Maddie get "detained" until Sonic comes to look for them.
When Robotnik is clearly being a threat to life after absorbing the Master Emerald, why didn't any of the G.U.N. soldiers try to shoot him?
The commander didn't give an order to fire. At this point he knew what was going on and didn't want to risk direct reprisal.
Trying to shoot what a tiny target in a giant city-block sized tornado? Seems like all you'd accomplish is giving him more metal to build his robot.
So what exactly is the Master Emerald now? Sonic separated the Chaos Emeralds from the Master Emerald and released them to...somewhere. Then Knuckles restored it without them (as evidenced by the lack of color when he holds the shards) so does it have some sort of inherent power?
Most likely it works just like its game counterpart, being able to control the Chaos Emeralds' power, with the explanation that it has a link to the Emeralds due to originally being made out of them.
Why would G.U.N. think that Sonic was a threat instead of Dr. Robotnik? Sonic has done nothing but good heroic deeds in both the film and sequel.
As far as they knew Robotnik was off planet forever and Sonic was being reckless with his attempt at heroics at the beginning of the sequel. They could've been tracking his awkward attempts at being a hero in other locales and have come to the conclusion that he's doing more harm than good, and that's being generous with giving them an actual reason other than just "because governments hate it when they're not in control". Why wouldn’t a government agency not like a powerful alien that they can’t control?
Sonic is not the first alien creature the government had to lock up for safety reasons. Because of this they learned not to take any chances on this matter.
The confrontation in Siberia: why didn't Sonic just use Bullet Time to snatch the map, grab Tails and book it? After all, that was how he was able to handle things the last time he was at a bar.
Sonic wanted a peaceful resolution. Snatching the map makes the already hostile bar patrons really angry. Winning them over keeps Tails and him safe, it gives them a warm place to spend the night, it might even get some beef stew at last. True, there were probably other options, but this was how Sonic saw it in the moment. Plus, even if Sonic did get the map that way, they still would have had to deal with the harsh winter storm outside that it's implied didn't let up for the rest of the night.
How come Agent Stone wasn't arrested before the events of the movie? It is possible he fled the scene after Robotnik was banished from Earth...but eventually went on to operate a coffee shop in Green Hills for some time without any trouble and raising no suspicions at all.
Was there any reason to arrest him? He disappeared from the first movie after Robotnik started powering his machines and thus went AWOL.
Considering the prequel comic shows Stone enacting a contingency plan of Robotnik's, it's possible the pair set things up so it would look like Stone was completely unaware of his boss's actions and he would be free to work without the government chasing him down. He was not implicated in any of the illegal things Robotnik did in the first movie, so he could have simply retired or took an extended vacation after Robotnik disappeared.
Every time Commander Walters mentions Robotnik in this film - including the mid-credits scene, where he believes he's dead - he makes no mention of Stone. It seems like they just don't see him as a credible threat in his own right.
So if the government already knew that Shadow - a superpowered hedgehog - existed, then why were they so shocked to discover another one in the form of Sonic?
The government in the first movie didn't know what caused the blackout, hence why they sent Robotnik in to investigate, and we're given no indication in either movie whether or not the government was surprised by Sonic being an anthropomorphic hedgehog.
It's possible that G.U.N. doesn't know the specifics of Project Shadow and so don't know what the Ultimate Lifeform looks like. They could be operating on old information and assume the Biolizard is Project Shadow.
When Sonic was trapped in the cage, why couldn't he just use his rolling attack or some other attack to break out and free the others? It's implied he was he was conscious for at least part of his capture and was definitely conscious by the time Maddie got to him. Obviously Tails was unconscious and Tom got cuffed, but Sonic should have been strong enough to break free.
Two possible reasons:
1: The cages were built with Sonic's strength in mind to hold him.
2: He didn't want to risk G.U.N hurting Tails and Tom even more if he retaliated, if his later Heroic BSoD on getting Tails hurt is anything to go by. Sonic was far more concerned about Tails' safety than his own. Tails was still unconscious and Sonic wanted to be sure he was okay before doing anything too rash.
How did Agent Stone manage to escape the Death Egg Robot? The last time we saw him, he was unconscious, with no indication that he'd regained consciousness by the time the thing collapsed. Yet while Robotnik's fate is ambiguous, Stone is confirmed to have survived during the mid-credits scene.
With how Crazy-Prepared for setbacks Robotnik is, it's likely the Robot included some kind of emergency ejection or other safety system for Stone's control station. Robotnik sees Stone as nothing but a tool, but a very useful one and probably gave enough thought to the design to ensure his survival even if the Robot was destroyed.
So when does this movie take place because the time zones seem weird. Green Hills is in Montana, and when Donut Lord calls Sonic, its completely dark for Sonic, yet it's the middle of the day for Hawaii.
Who says it was the middle of the day in Hawaii? It's completely possible to go from daylight to complete darkness in just four hours.
So, what exactly happened to the other echidnas? In this movie we see them leaving Knuckles behind as a child to go attack Sonic and Longclaw, and Knuckles says they never came back from that mission? So what happened? Did Longclaw kill them all herself? Seems unlikely. Did reinforcements arrive to aid her?
The implication is that Longclaw did indeed kill them all herself.
So why is Robotnik cool with teaming up with Knuckles? If he wanted to destroy Sonic for...reasons, why doesn't he want to do the same with Knuckles? If he simply wanted power, couldn't he have just used Knuckles instead?
His initial motivation is simply revenge on Sonic, and he had no access to his machines until after he found out about the Master Emerald, which became his new target. Also, at the end of the previous movie Sonic demonstrated the ability to just drain back power that was taken from him, Robotnik may have assumed Knuckles could do the same thing if he tried taking power from him.
So how does Super Sonic work and why was there no foreshadow of it in the movie?
Works: The emeralds reacted to Sonic's thoughts of love and protection for Tom and Maddie, and they united with him granting him ultimate power. This is how they work in the games as well.
Foreshadowing: They literally say that the Master Emerald (which is made up of the seven Chaos Emeralds) grants whoever wields it ultimate power, and that the Echidnas did so before. Blatantly telegraphic that anyone who has all seven will be able to become a god-like entity.
Just how long have Rachel and Randall been involved with eachother exactly ? The movie implies that Randall only got together with her as part of the G.U.N. plan to catch Sonic, but it's not even been a year since the events of the first movie... Did they meet after the first movie, spend a few months together and decided to get married ?
Getting married after a few months may not be the most common thing but its far from unheard of (though it does increase the chance of divorce).
Makes sense. After all, a guy like Randall would be a total catch for a girl like Rachel, and on Randall's end, the wedding was part of the plan all along.
When Robotnik returns and meets Stone at the coffee shop-turned-secret base, the logo of the Eggman Empire can be seen on some of the screens. A nice Mythology Gag for sure, and fitting considering that Robotnik now does look like his game counterpart with his bald head and big bushy moustache, but... Why would that logo already exist as such at that moment ? Robotnik just came back from the Mushroom Planet and the secret base inside the coffee shop was built while he was still trapped at the other side of the Galaxy. And Stone (who was in charge of the coffee shop/secret base) couldn't have created that logo himself, as he had no idea the Doctor would look like that upon returning.
Perhaps Robotnik was planning to change his look anyways? It might explain why he shaved his head for seemingly no reason at the end of the first movie-he had the time and decided he was ready to reinvent himself.
Perhaps the logo is based on the likeness of Gerald Robotnik, Eggman’s grandfather who tends to look like him.
How could Sonic use a phone with gloves on?
They’re likely not from Earth, so maybe his gloves are made out of something that’s easier to use with touch screens.
Where did the other Emeralds go after Sonic released them?
Scattered across the Earth. They'll sit where they landed until someone discovers them.
So did Tails just... abandon his entire life to go be with Sonic? In the games it's more believable that he'd do that just because it's not common for Sonic characters' backgrounds to be extensively expanded on, but in the movie's universe both Sonic and Knuckles have where they came from and who their family was as integral parts of their backstories. So what's the deal with Tails — did he leave his own family behind to live on Earth just because he got bullied and thought Sonic was cool?
Considering he doesn't mention his family, he probably doesn't have one (or if he does they don't care much for him.)
The labyrinth Knuckles and Eggman go through to get to the Master Emerald doesn't appear to have a covered top - why don't they just climb/fly over it?
It could be possible there's some kind of trap that prevents them from scaling the walls. Failing that, neither of them can fly (Robotnik left the Egg Mobile outside) and Knuckles probably can't climb and carry Robotnik at the same time.
How was Knuckles able to restore the Master Emerald without the Chaos Emeralds? Sonic cast them into the sky after he was done with them, and they weren’t among the shards when Knuckles put it back together.
The echidnas were the ones who forged the Master Emerald in the first place. Presumably, they passed the relevant knowledge down.
That still doesn't explain how it has its power without the Chaos Emeralds. Where does its power come from if the artifacts that empowered it to begin with are gone?
It has significance, but not necessarily power. It's a container that might someday re-accept the Chaos Emeralds (and be worth guarding for that alone), but as far as is shown in the movie, without the Chaos Emeralds it might be merely a large green shiny rock.
It could also be that the Master Emerald does have SOME power. In the games it's the controller of the Chaos Emeralds, meaning anyone with the Master Emerald can influence the Chaos Emeralds at will. It's yet to be seen if it retains that authority in this continuity too.
If Tails is from Sonic's planet, why didn't Knuckles detect Sonic's signal on earth when Tails did?
It's never stated that Sonic and Tails come from the same planet.
Considering Tails already knew all about the Master Emerald - a "bedtime story" that originated on Sonic's planet, it's pretty safe to assume he's from the same place.
Also Tails has the technology to detect and track Sonic while Knuckles is just searching planet by planet. Additionally, Knuckles ends up finding Robotnik who was trying to be found while Sonic's case was accidental.
Besides, Knuckles lacks Tails' knowledge of technology. Remember, he grew up in the jungle and his tribe was shown using spears and bows, hinting that the Echidnas were a very primitive people with no access to the kind of tools required to pick up Sonic's signal.
It doesn't make sense for Knuckles to get knocked out when he and Tails fell from the Death Egg Robot in the climax. The cinematic answer is that he needed to be out of commission for Sonic to save the day, else Knuckles would have gotten to the emerald first. But there was no in-world explanation for him to be put down, even temporarily, by a simple fall, when up to this point he's proven he can tank cars, Sonic, and even the Death Egg Robot's fist head-on without injury.
Given the past two days, where Knuckles had been battling Sonic constantly, tasered, almost drowned, and had no sleep, it's entirely possible that, despite putting on a stoic face, Knuckles had nothing left in his tank and the fall was simply the last thing that finally pushed him past his limit.
.