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Cosmo's species
In General
A race of sapient plant-like aliens that hailed from the planet, Green Gate.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: From what little is seen of them, all of the males tend to have a very serious disposition while the females are more gentle in comparison.
- Cute Monster Girl: The females of Cosmo's species, including her, all look like beautiful Plant People that resemble young humanoid girls regardless of their age in comparison to their large, brutish male Planimal counterparts.
- Fantastic Racism: Played with. According to the wiki, they look down on any animal-kind for their perceived obsession with violence and consider them a blight on the universe as a whole. But whether or not this prejudice is shared by the entire race or simply the Metarex taking things to the extreme is unclear given the lack of information regarding their culture after the war.
- Floral Theme Naming: The entire race has this.
- Named by the Dub: Besides Cosmo, Earthia, and the Metarex, none of the on-screen characters of their species have names in the original Japanese dub.
- No Name Given: The name of their race is never known or spoken.
- Planimal: All the males of Cosmo's species have vaguely reptilian-like features and their use of the "Mover Mode" transformed them into a dinosaur-like Kaiju.
- Plant Person: While this applies to all of Cosmo's species, the females look more humanoid than their more vague reptilian-like male counterparts.
- Plant Aliens: As a whole, Cosmo's species are anthropomorphic alien plant people.
- Plant Hair: Being plant people means their hair naturally resembles plants. This is more pronounced with the females though due to them having leaf-like hair covering their heads with a flower or two blooming on top. The males on the other hand have more course bristly plant material for hair with branches sticking out of their heads.
- Token Good Teammate: The unnamed on-screen male (Landar in the dub) of Cosmo species is the only one who performed a Heroic Sacrifice whereas every other male joins Lucas' faction and became a Metarex upon surviving Earthia's Orbital Bombardment.
- The Unreveal:
- In the original Japanese Dub, none of the on-screen individuals aside from Cosmo, Earthia, and the Metarex were named nor the name of the species in general.
- It's also never known of the enemy that they were fighting against that led to the destruction of their homeworld. The closet piece of description that Cosmo's species have of them in the original Japanese is "Kemono" which can be translated as "Beast", but whether it's a derogatory term or an implication for their enemy being an animal-based species like Sonic and co. are unknown.
Cosmo
A plant-like alien and allegedly the last of her kind, Cosmo joins the core cast in the second season, striving to defeat the Metarex responsible for destroying her homeworld. She forms a romantic bond with Tails.
- Badass Adorable: Has very high endurance for a female member of her species as shown when she gets whacked by a giant branch from a Metarex that sent her flying, she comes back down for revenge by attacking said Metarex with fruits.
- Break the Cutie: She started pretty fractured the very moment she crash landed onto Sonic's world: First being the last of her kind to be born and the first to be born outside of her home world (being born on her refugee ship no less as her homeworld was destroyed by Earthia's nuclear strike in a failed attempt to kill the Metarex). Second, watching both her mom and older sister Galaxina and the rest of her kind all die at the hands of the Metarex, it only got worse for the poor girl (though she was able to find a brief romance with Tailsnote , but that happiness wouldn't last) then the rest of the series finished her off by killing her.
- Canon Foreigner: Cosmo and the Metarex are original creations of the anime, and have no game counterparts as of the time of writing. Cosmo's design does resemble both Lumina and Void from Sonic Shuffle, oddly enough.
- The Chosen One: Sorta, though we don't know about it until near the end.
- Continuity Cameo:
- Cosmo appears in issue 5 of the comic during Chuck's speech about aliens
◊, and on the cover of issue of issue 21◊ as a toy. - Cosmo's pot has various silent cameos in Tails's workshop in Sonic Chronicles, an artwork from Sonic Channel, and in the background of TailsTube's fifth episode, though as an Easter Egg rather than a full on cameo, as she doesn't have a mainline game counterpart.
- Cosmo appears in issue 5 of the comic during Chuck's speech about aliens
- Cool Big Sis: Galaxina is this for her before the Metarex's slaughter of her and the rest of the females.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Oh so very much, Amy found this out the hard way when she made Cosmo attempt to carry her luggage for the galactic trip to stop the Metarex, only for Cosmo to outright fumble them due to her poor physical strength and ends with her tripping over said luggage onto herself.
- Cute Monster Girl: Being the female of her species, Cosmo is just downright adorable.
- Expy: She bares a strong heavy resemblance to Kirlia from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, which oddly enough came out right as Sonic X premiered on TV. No doubt 4Kids and Sega decided to take notes.
- Fanservice Pack: When Cosmo turns into her adult form in the finale before her death, she gains a slight bust increase that's around Amy's size (considering that she was 8 when she did this implies Cosmo was still a child even while in her adult form), and prominent hips which the anime gladly showed off.
- Flowers of Nature: She is a plant-like alien with flowers on her head. They start as buds but bloom into flowers when she matures into her final form.
- Green Means Natural: Cosmo is a green plant-like alien who can unlock the power of Planet Eggs to summon vines (though due to being only 8 years old, she can't control them at all), and she is capable of empathizing with plants.
- Green Thumb: She has some kind of affinity with Planet Eggs: in a moment of desperation, she inadvertently uses one to summon vines to defend herself, only for them to attack her and her friends since she has no control over them.
- Heartwarming Orphan: Who just so happens to be the last female member of her species.
- Heroic BSoD: When she suddenly remembers why Dark Oak called her the ultimate Metarex spy, "White Seed".
- Heroic Sacrifice: Tails actually had to be the one to finish her off. And he was NOT happy about it.
- Interspecies Romance: With Tails, though this was no thanks to Amy having put a love potion in the lake in another vain failed attempt to woo Sonic that they just so happened to fall into by complete accident.
- Irony: What ultimately pushed her species to near-extinction at the start of Season 3 is a Great Offscreen War between them and an enemy that is implied to be similar to Sonic and co. Then there's her growing romance with Tails.
- It's All My Fault: All over the place. Try not to count a time where she hasn't blamed herself for her friends getting hurt or her failing to do some chores for Team Sonic, such as the attempt to carry Amy's luggage.
- Kill the Cutie: Poor poor little Cosmo.
- Killed Off for Real: Arguably ending on the most Bittersweet Ending as Sonic X was cancelled after Super Sonic and Super Shadow used Chaos Regeneration in an attempt to revive her.
- Last of Her Kind: Or so we think until we learn who the Metarex are, after her death at the finale which also killed off the remaining Metarex Commanders that fused to become Final Mova, her species would have gone from highly endangered to extinct permanently, had Super Sonic and Super Shadow not used Chaos Regeneration on her dead tree body which produced a white seed.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Yellow Zelkova at least thinks she's Dark Oak's daughter, which was later confirmed by the climax, since it's highly likely Dark Oak while he was still Lucas, may have impregnated his wife before his Face–Heel Turn.
- Male Gaze: While she was transitioning into her final form, the anime gave the fans lingering shots of Cosmo's hips and butt as it grows.
- Mysterious Waif: Very much so and is quite skinny as well.
- Nice Girl: She's very polite, gentle and selfless.
- The Noseless: She doesn't have a nose.
- Not Quite Dead: The final shot of her seed sprouting vaguely implies that she will return from death at some point, but due to Sonic X's cancellation, she's permanently dead.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Her amulet, which allows her to turn into her adult form when it shatters.
- Parachute Petticoat: Can use her dress to float back down to the ground.
- Plant Alien: And just so happens to be the last surviving female of her species.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Combined with Fanservice Pack and Male Gaze to boot.
- Prone to Tears: She's very prone to breaking down in tears, though it's somewhat justified because she had just lost her...well, everything.
- Puppy Love: With Tails, though it would tragically end in heartbreak for the poor Fox.
- Shrinking Violet: Comes with the territory of having lost your homeworld and entire species.
- Someone Has to Die: That final episode made Tails into a
Woobie all by itself, in addition to the already tragic Cosmo. - Sorting Algorithm of Deadness: Could very well have turned out to be on the low end if Sonic X hadn't ended right after she died - that plant she left behind with Super Sonic and Super Shadow using Chaos Regeneration on her before her death, could be a means for her to regenerate or produce an actual offspring.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Tails, much to Amy's chagrin (as it was originally meant for her and Sonic).
- Survivor Guilt: No surprise, seeing as she's the only survivor of what's left of her refugee ship.
- Theme Naming: Cosmo's species are all named after plants in the subbed version, whereas the dubbed [4kids] version used space-themed names.
- The Metarex have plant-based names which makes sense, since Dark Oak and the other leaders are male members of Cosmo's species.
Earthia
Cosmo's and Galaxina's mother and Dark Oak's ex-wife.
- Birds of a Feather: While they later became enemies as the war worsens, what binds both Earthia and Lucas/Dark Oak in a romance beforehand is their willingness to do what's right for those around them, even if they have to be extreme about it.
- Category Traitor: A mutual example of this with her ex-husband Lucas. In a fit of ambivalence, she calls Lucas out as a traitor for being willing to use the Planet Egg to perfect Mover Mode only for Lucas to do the same for wanting to run away.
- Dub Name Change: Called Terra in the Latin Spanish dub.
- Good Is Not Soft: Earthia may be a woman who only wants peace for her family and people, but she can be a terrifying force to be reckoned with if the chips come down. She did hold a high government position and was willing to nuke her ex-husband and his followers along with their mutual enemy after all.
- Kill the Ones You Love: Despite her fear and anger towards Luca's extremism, to the point that she angrily calls him a traitor, she still loves him deep down. Even as she nukes him and his followers as she and the rest of the females leave the planet.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her Orbital Bombardment Nuke 'em tactic to wipe out her ex-husband and his followers not only failed to kill him and four of his followers, but also drove them into becoming the Metarex and swearing revenge on her and her clan. Eventually, they manage to find their ship and kill everyone on board, leaving Cosmo as the Sole Survivor.
Galaxia
Voiced by: Michiko Neya (JP), Bella Hudson (EN)
Cosmo's older sister.
- Cool Big Sis: She's Cosmo's older sister and the latter is quite close to her in their first and only scene together.
- Distaff Counterpart: Although their personalities are different, she's this to Sonic in regards to their blue Color Motif and being a cool, older sibling to Cosmo and Tails respectively.
- Killed Offscreen: One of the many off-screen casualties by the Metarex, leaving Cosmo as the Sole Survivor.
- Named by the Dub: She is called Galaxia in the [4kids] dub.
- No Name Given: She's only referred to as "Onee-sama" by Cosmo and is known as "Cosmo's older sister" in her Eyecatch card in the original dub. Though, it's averted in the [4kids] dub.
- Promoted to Parent: Implied to have been this for Cosmo as Earthia had to stay in her transformation state to power their ship.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She looks like an older version of Cosmo.
- True Blue Femininity: Her Color Motif is blue compared to Cosmo's green and is quite ladylike in her brief scenes.
The Metarex
In General
Click here to see all the commanders
Left to right: The collective true antagonists of Sonic X, they're most active in Season 3. A mechanical empire from another world, they are led by Dark Oak to obtain the universe's planet eggs, hidden within the cores of every planet in existence. They were responsible for destroying Cosmo's world, actually being the last male members of her species who strived to gain power but corrupted themselves in the process.
Tropes associated with the Metarex:
- Aliens Are Bastards: They destroyed Cosmo's world after trying to gain power
- Always Chaotic Evil: All the Metarex shown are antagonists, loyal to their collective cause.
- Antagonist Title: Season 3 is otherwise known as the Metarex Saga.
- Arc Villain: They are the collective Big Bad Duumvirate of Season 3.
- Bishōnen Line: The Metarex come in a wide variety of different shapes and sizes, but those with higher positions of authority are a bit more humanoid and uniform than the rest, though at the same time are more decorated and visibly different from one another, as seen with their commanders.
- Canon Foreigner: The Metarex are original creations of the anime, and have no game counterparts as of the time of writing.
- Color-Coded Characters: The Metarex commanders are colored and named appropriately.
- Cyber Cyclops: The key physical trait of every unique Metarex member is their singular large eye.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: The commanders have identical-looking orbs on different parts of their bodies. Pale Bayleaf is the unique standout for both tropes, having two eyes in conventional spots but also a third eye along with it and three more running down his torso, though Red Pine and Yellow Zelkova might also be subverted or at least downplayed cases of the former trope.
- Drunk with Power: As the above states, they destroyed Cosmo's world after trying to gain power, which they got and it didn't end well.
- Dub Name Change: All the Metarex were renamed in the Latin American dub, with their names losing the plant Theme Naming.
- Eating Machine: A few Metarex with mouths are shown actually putting their jaws to work. In "Hedgehog Hunt" they serve actual food and drink, though Yellow Zelkova is the only one who explicitly chows down on anything (Pale Bayleaf is standing next to a table of food too though it's anyone's guess how he eats). It's justified in Yellow Zelkova's case, as he's not actually a machine.
- End of the World as We Know It: The Metarex extract the planet eggs from planets and leave the worlds to slowly die. Planet Cascade is a shown example of this, courtesy of Pale Bayleaf.
- Evil Is Bigger: Unique members are huge, with the humanoid commanders themselves already towering over the entire rest of the cast.
- Eye Motifs: The hallmark trait of every Metarex member is their "eyes": a singular glass orb that is in most cases near pitch black and only reflects a bit of color unique to the subject. It dominates a large portion of their faces (and in some instances is their only facial feature), and the commanders even have additional identical looking orbs on different parts of their bodies; Dark Oak has one on his chest, Red Pine has two on his forehead and chest, Black Narcissus has two in his shoulders, Yellow Zelkova has two on his forehead and his "belt", and Pale Bayleaf has five on his face running down his torso.
- Fatal Flaw: Pride and wrath. A war prompted Cosmo's species to split into two factions, one consisting of the men and the other the women—the men insisted on continuing the fight while the women insisted on fleeing. After departing, the leader of the women, Earthia, saw the men using the Planet Egg of their homeworld to continue the fight (and causing their homeworld to wither in the process), and decided this was a Godzilla Threshold not to be crossed—she instead crossed a different Godzilla Threshold by wiping out the men, including her ex-husband Lucas, with nuclear bombardment. Five of them survived, became the Metarex, and would later come to massacre the women in turn, except for Cosmo.
- Gaia's Vengeance: Their true goal is to wipe out all non-plant life in the cosmos, Dark Oak's former goal as Lucas dialed up.
- Galactic Conquerer: Their goal is galactic conquest, with several planets having already fallen to them before.
- Gendercide: They were on the receiving end of this, with every male having been wiped out by Earthia and the other females of the species. However, Lucas and four others survived, going on to become the Metarex commanders and doing this back to the females, this time with only Cosmo as the survivor. With Final Mova's destruction, all the males of their generation are completely gone, followed by the following generations with Cosmo's death, though her sacrifice likely means this has been undone for the species. Though with Super Sonic and Super Shadow performing a Chaos Regeneration on Cosmo's dead essence, implies she could be reborn anew to start a new generation of her line.
- Knight of Cerebus: Season 3, amongst the darkest of stories in the Sonic series (which doesn't help as this was an attempt at adapting the highly controversial then-recently released Shadow the Hedgehog of which the Metarex strongly resembles the Black Armsnote ), is heralded by these guys as the representatives of it, and it stays that way until the very end.
- Made of Iron: The unique Metarex moreso, but this especially applies for the commanders, where even their frailest, Black Narcissus, can still take a LOT of punishment. This even applies to them without their armor, being the only survivors of a ploy that took out every other male of their species.
- Mecha-Mooks: They're all mechanical, but the actual Metarex Troopers are the most straight example of this.
- Underground Monkey: Gold & Silver, two stronger Metarex Troopers painted as such and designed by Black Narcissus to test Sonic.
- Mother Nature, Father Science: Their contrast between Cosmo's species (or what little there is of it) is fairly prominent; the females are tender and gentle Plant People while the masculine Metarex are mechanical, oppressive Space Pirates.
- No Mouth: It's 50/50 whether a Metarex unit has a visible, conventional jaw or not, which applies for the commanders as well; Dark Oak and Red Pine have no semblances of one, Black Narcissus and Pale Bayleaf have vague semblances of mouths, and Yellow Zelkova has a large, blocky mouth guard with grills, him being the only one of the five to be shown actually eating anything.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Compared to the cartoony humanoid animals and Eggman, or the fairly grounded humans and machines (if not at least sometimes elaborate), the Metarex all look like they came from an entirely different anime with their detailed and uniform designs, particularly the commanders. It does work to good effect, given they are the antagonistic alien force of Season 3, thusly allowing them to stand out strikingly with how jarringly threatening looking they can be.
- One-Gender Race: Though they're machines, they have obviously masculine voices, and the commanders are referred to with male pronouns. It's played with in a roundabout way, as the Metarex commanders are males of Cosmo's species, the only survivors out of hundreds that survived a cataclysmic explosion that struck them during their war against an unknown opponent years ago. After they fought back, Cosmo would be left as the last living female of her species.
- Plant Aliens: The Metarex commanders are males of Cosmo's species, and wish to eradicate all animal life.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: As the Black Arms are Adapted Out for this adaptation, the Metarex take their place as an antagonistic force here.note
- Theme Naming: Twofold for the commanders.
- Colorful Theme Naming: Their names start with the color their bodies are primarily painted, even with the less obvious examples: Dark-, Red-, Yellow-, Black- and Pale-.
- Floral Theme Naming: Oddly for their mechanical visages, the second halves of their names are various plantlife: -Oak, -Pine, -Zelkova, -Narcissus, and -Bayleaf. This turns out to be a big hint at their true identities.
- Unrobotic Reveal: A big twist is that Cosmo is not really the last of her species, but rather the last female of her species; the Metarex commanders are revealed to be the last males, though only Dark Oak & Yellow Zelkova's true forms are shown off and only the former's original name is revealed (Lucas).
- Voice of the Legion: All Metarex members who talk have noticeable robotic filters over their voices.
- Power Echoes: In the sub, in place of the filter the Metarex have a very apparent reverb to their voices.
Dark Oak
"Oh, perfect: One day they will learn the true extent of my power, but by then they will be too late!"
Click here to see his true form (Spoilers)
Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Matt Hoverman (EN) Other Languages
The leader of the Metarex, and the main antagonist of the season. Dark Oak is the leader of the Metarex, having co-founded it alongside his fellow commanders.
Tropes associated with Dark Oak:
- Aerith and Bob: An extraterrestrial from a planet whose inhabitants are named after plants or stars, yet Dark Oak's original name is Lucas.
- Archnemesis Dad: The anime shies away from establishing any solid connection between them, but the fact that Dark Oak is Cosmo's mother Earthia's ex-husband certainly has implications. Yellow Zelkova thinks outright that Cosmo is Dark Oak's daughter, which due to the death of her mother, likely is Cosmo's father.
- Authority Equals Ass Kicking: This guy BEAT Super Sonic (likely very bad considering he only had some slight superficial damage while Sonic was exhausted), who was presented as invincible in the first two seasons.
- Big Bad: Of Season 3, as the head of the Metarex.
- The Chessmaster: His smooth plans involved using Cosmo as a spy to have all seven Chaos Emeralds gathered for him so he could bring them together for the Forestation process.
- Combat Tentacles: Beneath his large shoulders are massive, segmented tendrils.
- Cyber Cyclops: He has a single, bright green eye on his head, notably shown with more color than usual compared to his fellow commanders. Subverted in that he actually has two eyes.
- Death Equals Redemption: Upon his defeat, he finally realizes that he was wrong in his goals and that his wife was right all along, ultimately passing into the afterlife with her.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The first thing he does on screen is beating Super Sonic in a fight, if not outlast him. He remains the only villain in any Sonic series to actually defeat Super Sonic in a fair fight- in the canon series, Knuckles and Eggman both got the better of him once, but they had to rely on trickery to do so.
- Dub Name Change: The Latin American dub changes his name from Dark Oak to Oscuridad (Darkness). An accurate translation would be Roble Oscuro.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He did truly love his wife Earthia, even when he started going to darker methods to win the planetary war, but the relationship turned strained when she turned against him and they both claimed the other was a traitor. Then it was obliterated when she nuked the planet with him and his followers still on it to wipe out most of the males of their race (along with the unknown enemy they were fighting against) and he eventually retaliated by destroying her and her follower's ship to wipe out most of the females. By the very end, however, he seems to rekindle that love when he admits she was right all along, redeeming him.
- Everything's Better with Samurai: He's evidently modeled after a shogun of sorts (most prominently, his head), what with being the leader of the Metarex and wielding swords.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He always has a pretty deep baritone, regardless of which dub.
- For the Evulz: What his motivation as leader of the Metarex amounts to at first, until his true origins are revealed.
- He-Man Woman Hater: He didn't start out that way at first but he shows shades of this after his wife, Earthia, turned against him for his ways.
- Horned Humanoid: Double Subverted. His head isn't really horned like his comrades' and is more akin to a kabuto with a crest on it. Before his transformation, however, he did have blunt, brown horns.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: As demonstrated in his very first appearance, not only was he capable of going toe-to-toe with Super Sonic, but it's implied that he wasn't even trying that hard until he busts out his Cool Sword.
- Knight of Cerebus: The show gets A LOT more serious when he takes over as the Big Bad.
- Knight Templar: As the war that ravaged his planet continued, he eventually became convinced that life as the universe knew it was too flawed and he needed to reset it in order to end all wars and conflict, regardless of how many would have to die to see it through.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Implied to be Cosmo's father, seeing as he was likely around to witness Galaxina's birth, it's likely he may have impregnated Earthia prior to his turn to evil.
- Machine Monotone: Played with. His voice filter is the heaviest of all the Metarex to the point it makes him actually sound like a more genuine robot, which only furthers how he does have a tendency to Chew the Scenery.
- Manipulative Bastard: We learn in "Shadow's Arrival / The Cosmo Conspiracy" that he secretly manipulated Cosmo into using Sonic and his friends to gather all of the Chaos Emeralds for him. In "The Lost Planet / Eye Spy" after that, it is revealed that Dark Oak had been using a device implanted within her head to make her his unwilling spy the whole time.
- Mister Big: He's actually the shortest of the Metarex commanders by a considerable amount. It's downplayed, as 6'6 is still very tall, and exemplifies moreso how he and especially his peers are huge compared to the heroes or even Eggman.
- Orcus on His Throne: He sends Metarex out to kill Sonic, and besides that mostly just sits around and does nothing. Especially jarring given that it turns out that he could have easily found and killed him whenever he wanted to. It starts to make a bit more sense when we learn Cosmo is unwittingly doing his bidding, and the Metarex are meant to corral the heroes where he needs them to go.
- Purple Is Powerful: Predominantly colored purple, and is both the leader of the Metarex and the most powerful of all the antagonists in Sonic X.
- Taking You with Me: After Super Sonic and Super Shadow destroy the shell of the Final Mova's planet form, he decides to try his hand at attempting to OBLITERATE the ENTIRE galaxy with himself in his final moments.Dark Oak: Foolish hedgehogs. With the help of the Planet Egg, you have indeed prevented me from transforming the galaxy. But you can never win this battle. If the Metarex cannot rule the galaxy, then we will destroy it! Muahahahahahah...!
- Together in Death: In the end, he is reunited with his beloved wife in his final moments before joining her in the afterlife.
- Tragic Villain: At one point, he was a warrior desperate to win a great war for his planet by any means necessary, even if it risked the very life of his planet in the process. As a result, he lost his people, his wife's love and respect, his planet, and his morality as he refashioned himself into a galactic conqueror and murdered the majority of his surviving species' females for betraying him and turned what might have been his only remaining daughter into an Unwitting Pawn for his schemes.
- Unrobotic Reveal: In "The Lost Planet / Eye Spy", just like Yellow Zelkova, he is revealed to be of the same species as Cosmo, and potentially even her father.
- Viler New Villain: To Dr. Eggman. As bad as Eggman could get, he wasn't a sadist, was Affably Evil, and wanted to conquer the world, not destroy it. Dark Oak is a genocidal monster who's destroyed multiple planets by stealing their Planet Eggs, plotted to wipe out all non-plant life forms in the galaxy, and decides to destroy the entire galaxy in his final moments rather than let Sonic and Shadow win.
- We Can Rule Together: He uses this with Sonic in the fourth-to-last episode before devouring him for deciding he would rather they get rid of him than him join the Metarex and let them take over the galaxy without a fight.
- We Have Reserves: The Metarex seem to adopt this doctrine as a whole, and Dark Oak invokes this trope when Sonic and he meet again after their battle.Dark Oak: For each one you destroy, there are hundreds more that shall take their place.
- The Worf Effect: Zigzagged. His very first appearance has him fight evenly against Super Sonic for an uncertain amount of time, leaving the latter panting a bit with a slight bruise mark whereas he's implied to still be holding back until he busts out his Cool Sword. On the other hand, Super Sonic himself admits that he was "playing around" with Dark Oak as well before deciding to get serious, causing a chunk of the latter's armor to be damaged. Furthermore, despite boasting to Super Sonic beforehand that he wouldn't win against him, Dark Oak privately admits to himself that his odds of winning against Super Sonic were low in a direct confrontation.
Yellow Zelkova
"This task requires strength: It is I who should go; Yellow Zelkova!"
Click here to see his true form (Spoilers)
The very obvious muscle of the Metarex commanders, Yellow Zelkova is a classical Boisterous Bruiser to his core, a chummy fellow when not seeking the next enemy to pulverize with his fists.
Tropes associated with Yellow Zelkova:
- Affably Evil: He gets his hands dirty more than any other commander, fighting against Sonic and nearly destroys them multiple times. Contrasting with this are his dull wit and moments of being absolutely goofy (Eggman tattoos anyone?), and when he isn't in the middle of combat, he's quite chummy with his peers.
- Barbarian Longhair: He's revealed to have pretty long hair, which seems to naturally come with the adult males of his species.
- Blood Knight: Jumps at the chance to fight the Sonic Team, demanding to face them first.
- Boisterous Bruiser: He regularly seems jovial in his battles, my friend.
- The Brute: If his frame wasn't a good enough indicator, he isn't very bright but is the most willing to get into a brawl (and the most capable).
- Card-Carrying Villain: Has stated himself to be evil a few times.
- Cyber Cyclops: His eye is more wide and visor-like. That said, he has a more traditional one on his forehead, which may make this a subverted case.
- David vs. Goliath: His dynamic with Knuckles is akin to this, especially given Yellow Zelkova's massive stature at 12'2.
- Disney Villain Death: After his fight with Knuckles, he slides into a lava pit, visibly catching fire on the way down.
- Dub Name Change: The Latin American dub renames him from Yellow Zelkova to Furia Ambar (Amber Fury). An accurate translation would be Zelvoka Amarillo.
- Dumb Muscle: While undoubtedly the strongest of the 4 commanders (and possibly stronger than Dark Oak), he is as dumb as a slab of pork and just as hammy.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: It is implied in a flashback that he used to be reasonably intelligent, though it seems to have faded over the years.
- Dying Curse: Declares Dark Oak will be victorious and avenge him before he falls to his death.
- Evil Is Hammy: Pick ME! I shall be the representative for this TROPE!
- Face Death with Dignity: He refuses Knuckles' attempt to save him and lets himself fall into the lava whilst smiling, albeit while declaring Dark Oak will get his revenge.
- A Father to His Men: Implied as the soldiers under his command seem to share his enthusiasm for victory.
- Front Line General: Not so much as leading his troops into battle as lead only himself into battle.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Unlike the other Metarex, he fights with his massive fists rather than any weaponry.
- Horned Humanoid: His horns are incredibly broad, angular and flat. Before his transformation, they're still yellow but somewhat branch-like.
- Killed Off for Real: He falls into the lava in his last appearance and dies.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: He's the absolute biggest character that isn't an outright monster of sorts and very strongly built; he serves as The Brute for the Metarex.
- Nerd in Evil's Helmet: Underneath all that bulky Metarex armor, he's just a normal looking alien.
- Pet the Dog: He claims to miss his fellow commander Red Pine, claiming he was almost as strong as him (or in the case of the sub, was always careful).
- Psychopathic Manchild: A few scenes paint him as this, such as his giddiness over showing Sonic and friends his temporary Eggman tattoo and his overall rash behavior.
- Unrobotic Reveal: In his final appearance, once his armor is destroyed, he is revealed to not be a robot, but a giant lizard-like alien, who is also the same species as Cosmo.
- Villainous Breakdown: Suffers one as he fails to defeat Knuckles and after he knocks his armor off.
Red Pine
"We don't know how to thank you: Perhaps, we'll just destroy you!"
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (JP), Jonathan Todd Ross (EN) Other Languages
The first of the Metarex commanders introduced outside of Dark Oak, Red Pine has the dubious honor of the shortest screentime of the lot, only physically appearing in his debut episode.
Tropes associated with Red Pine:
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: After rushing in to destroy the compromised Metarex base, he has this moment when Super Sonic & Super Shadow created a gravitational force.
- Battleship Raid: His fleet and battleship make up much of the direct conflict of "A Metarex Melée" besides the ongoing fight with Dark Oak. It's downplayed however as his squadron isn't ever really fought directly but rather the compromised Metarex base where Sonic and Dark Oak were fighting is the main event.
- Big Red Devil: Evokes this visually with his maroon armor and large horns.
- Continuity Nod: Is constantly referenced to after his death and is shown with the others and Dark Oak in their group picture after their people's history is revealed.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: For the Mauve Shirt of the bunch, he has the rather brutal fate of having his ship slowly pulled into a gravitational force before it explodes while he's onboard, with no hope of escape.
- Cyber Cyclops: Evokes this the best among his peers, besides Dark Oak himself. That said, he has a second orb in a socket on his forehead, possibly subverting this like Yellow Zelkova.
- Dub Name Change: The Latin American dub renames him from Red Pine to Vil Granate (Evil Garnet). An accurate translation would be Pino Rojo.
- Evil Is Hammy: He would have probably been just as hammy as Yellow Zelkova if he survived past his first appearance. This applies for both sub and dub.
- Evil Sounds Deep: In both versions, moreso in the dub but he sounds especially booming in the sub.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: It's very evident with his dub voice where he sounds cartoonishly evil.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Would be a villainous example if it wasn't subverted. Despite appearing once, he is mentioned in multiple episodes in passing, immediately after his death.
- Genius Bruiser: Allegedly, he was around Yellow Zelkova's strength and was a careful leader. We never get to see this.
- Horned Humanoid: Four horns in his case, angular like Yellow Zelkova's but not nearly as massive.
- Mauve Shirt: Quite literally, too. Between the other commanders, he served the smallest role and was killed off quickly, but did bring several plot points with him, such as the existence of the other commanders in the first place.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Noted In-Universe by Yellow Zelkova and Pale Bayleaf. He was always a careful commander, which intrigued Pale Bayleaf because of how recklessly he acted during his final moments.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Appears for half of one episode and instantly dies, despite being one of the 4 commanders.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite being seen in just one episode, he sets in motion the second half of the Metarex Saga and reveals the existence of the 4 commanders.
- Smug Snake: Introduces himself by flaunting the successes of the Metarex's plans, thanking the heroes for their help before announcing their incoming defeat. He doesn't even survive past the episode, not even getting a chance to actually fight directly.
- Starter Villain: The first of the Metarex commanders to be fought and subsequently destroyed, his existence primarily a reveal of the fact that there are a few more of them than expected.
- The Unfought: He never got a chance to fight the heroes directly, being introduced on his battleship which would also be where he would die without ever moving from.
- Unrobotic Reveal: In "The Lost Planet / Eye Spy", just like his fellow Metarex commanders, he is of the same species as Cosmo.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He is only shown in the episode where he gets killed and doesn't appear again outside of flashbacks.
Black Narcissus
"It's all a matter of brainpower; you see, it's impossible to vanquish a powerful opponent, unless you understand him!"
Arguably the most infamous of the Metarex commanders besides Dark Oak, Black Narcissus is a cruel manipulator of the highest caliber, even to those powerless against him.
Tropes associated with Black Narcissus:
- Avenging the Villain: Declares that he will do this for Red Pine, even if it would go against Dark Oak's orders.
- The Blank: Subverted. He appears to have an actual face of sorts below the signature Metarex "eye", unlike his comrades.
- Blood Knight: A more subtle example compared to Yellow Zelkova. In his first appearance, he declared he had effectively conquered a planet much too easily, while also demanding to be the one to have Sonic's head, even if it would be against Dark Oak's orders.
- Boom, Headshot! / Off with His Head!: How he and Pale Bayleaf seemingly bite the dust as Final Mova.
- Co-Dragons: Shares this with Pale Bayleaf to some extent, and they are the only commanders of the original 4 remaining when Dark Oak activates forestation.
- Cyber Cyclops: His signature Metarex eye spans almost the entirety of his head and is ovular in shape.
- Dark Is Evil: Decked out in black with bits of purple, and among the most diabolical of the Metarex commanders.
- Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments. One standout is when Chris throws down a flash bomb and runs off with Cosmo. Black Narcissus hasn't moved an inch from his chair as he dryly quips,...Eugh. This is the most dismal escape attempt that I've ever seen. I'll give them a head start to try and add some excitement.
- Dub Name Change: The Latin American dub renames him from Black Narcissus to Noche Negra (Black Night). An accurate translation would be Narciso Negro.
- Evil Genius: Boasts his intelligence and is a natural plotter, manipulating people to do as he wants. Also knows better than to go to the battle blind, wanting to gauge Sonic's abilities first before committing forces.
- Expecting Someone Taller: In the dub, he states that he didn't expect Sonic to be so scrawny.
- The Fighting Narcissist: The mirror on his staff allows him to invoke this while on the battlefield.
- Foul Flower: The only main Metarex named after a flower, and one of the cruelest.
- Frontline General: Seen leading a campaign on an unnamed world.
- Horned Humanoid: More like antennae compared to the horns of his fellow commanders.
- Kubrick Stare: If one chooses to believe his real face is below the large "eye", then he's got a perpetual one.
- Lean and Mean: The second tallest of the Metarex commanders at 10'9 and rather thinly built compared to, say, Red Pine or Yellow Zelkova.
- Manipulative Bastard: Seems to be his hat and prefers to plot and scheme over diplomacy (Pale Bayleaf) or brute force (Yellow Zelkova).
- Meaningful Name: Named specifically after the narcissus, its namesake being a man who was incredibly vain and obsessed with himself, and in one version of the tale, couldn't get his eyes off his own reflection. Not only is Black Narcissus quite vain himself, but he also has a massive mirror on his staff so that he can always admire himself in the midst of battle.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: An inverse example compared to Yellow Zelkova; he's quite lithe and is shown to be surprisingly inept in combat.
- Narcissist: If the entire page hasn't tipped you off.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Because of his laughable fighting strength, he usually spends his time scheming and planning things out.
- Revenge: A subtle but key trait of Black Narcissus is how he holds grudges. He declared he would avenge Red Pine more boldly than even Yellow Zelkova and was all for getting at Chris and Cosmo as payback to Sonic, one of Red Pine's murderers. After being humiliated by Eggman's goons in combat, he declares to his face that he'll never be forgiven even while he's on the Metarex's side for the time being.
- Sadist: It's clear he enjoys torturing the victims of his schemes.
- Slouch of Villainy: He's lounging in his chair while waiting for Cosmo to fall for his ploy.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: In the sub, he has a very gentle and quiet voice.
- The Stoic: Most prominent in his debut in the Japanese version, practically never raising his voice and speaking calmly and analytically.
- Took a Level in Badass: Could go toe to toe with Rouge and Knuckles when he returns with Pale Bayleaf and Dark Oak.
- Unrobotic Reveal: Just like the other Metarex commanders, he is the same species as Cosmo.
- Weak, but Skilled: While he is a good plotter and capable of bending people to fall where he needs them to, he is a terrible fighter (losing to Decoe and Bocoe and Bokkun).
- Would Hurt a Child: While none of the Metarex are above this, Black Narcissus is a special case because he stabs Chris in the stomach!
Pale Bayleaf
"We'll be watching, and when they least expect it, we strike again; and this time, we'll destroy them!"
Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi (JP), Jim Napolitano (EN) Other Languages
A brilliant tactician, Pale Bayleaf is the Metarex commander most often actually observing political affairs; most prominently, resistance fighters trying to rebel against them.
Tropes associated with Pale Bayleaf:
- Arm Chair Military: Unlike Yellow Zelkova (who constantly brawls with Sonic's forces), Red Pine (who goes down with his ship), and Black Narcissus (who is first seen leading a campaign planet side), Pale Bayleaf only fights himself at the end of the series (even his ship is seldom seen in battle, as Shadow destroys an entire fleet, but he appears later, indicating he wasn't there).
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Pale Bayleaf is more overtly insectoid than the rest of the commanders, looking like he took some design cues from a cricket or a mantis.
- The Blank: Possibly outright averted, as he has eyes in more conventional placements and a semblance of a mouthpiece.
- Boom, Headshot!/Off with His Head!: How he and Black Narcissus seemingly bite the dust as Final Mova.
- The Chessmaster: One of the single best characters in the series in that regard. For bonus points, in one episode he's relaxing during a mission by playing chess with a rook-shaped drone, and for his voice actor in the dub to be an actual puppeteer.
- Co-Dragons: Shares this with Black Narcissus to some extent, and they are the only commanders of the original 4 remaining when Dark Oak activates forestation.
- Creepy Long Fingers: He has unnecessarily long and very thin fingers.
- Deadpan Snarker: He can certainly have his moments, much like Black Narcissus.Pale Bayleaf: You misjudge him. His endgame was weak. But then again, he's not like someone I know who relies solely on power.
Yellow Zelkova: What? - Dual Wielding: Could do this with swords he can summon at will.
- Dub Name Change: The Latin American dub renames him from Pale Bayleaf to Tempano (Iceberg). An accurate translation would be Hoja de Laurel Pálida.
- Evil Genius: Of a different shade to Black Narcissus, focusing rather on diplomacy and tactical brilliance over his contemporary's more direct manipulation skills.
- Evil Laugh: Can pull off an insane one quite well.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Especially in the Japanese version, where he has quite the baritone.
- Extra Eyes: Unlike the others of his clan, he runs with this and runs with it hard, having two eyes in more "conventional spots" alongside the more traditional in the middle of his head and three more running down the middle of his torso, giving him the most eyes of all the Metarex.
- Faux Affably Evil: He regularly acts calmly and in a professional manner, such as referring to his argument with Yellow Zelkova as a "difference of opinion over tactics". Despite this, he's arguably the most terrifying and sadistic of the Metarex commanders.
- Genre Blind: Doesn't check to see if it was a trick after he thinks he destroyed the Blue Typhoon, gleefully going off to tell Dark Oak the good news.
- Green and Mean: The green Metarex commander, and he can have his moments of cruelty.
- Hero Killer: Pale Bayleaf has the possible honor of the highest onscreen kill count by an antagonist in Sonic X, his fleet being responsible for Molly's death and personally overseeing the torturous execution of the remaining Resistance members, including Leon.
- Horned Humanoid: His horns in particular are the longest of them all.
- I Lied: Played With. It is unknown if he was going to keep his promise to give the Freedom Fighters a spot in the Metarex hierarchy, but since they failed, it is a moot point.
- Interservice Rivalry: Averted. While it looks like he and the other commanders do not do well with each other, as Pale Bayleaf points out to Black Narcissus "we're not fighting, just having a difference of opinion".
- Knight of Cerebus: Shared with and possibly excelled over Dark Oak. Compared to the rest of his subordinates, Pale Bayleaf is seriously played and completely ruthless and at times darkly sadistic, particularly in his treatment of Molly's army.
- Lean and Mean: The skinniest of the Metarex generals (though the second shortest at 8'9), and very much evil.
- Manipulative Bastard: More of the diplomatic type (as opposed to Black Narcissus' behind the scenes plotting).
- Muscles Are Meaningless: The skinniest of the generals, yet still capable of noselling Sonic’s attacks.
- Not Himself: Noticed that the usually cautious Red Pine's plan of attack was unusually different during his final mission.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Inflicts this to Leon after having been given a fake Chaos Emerald, eliminiating the remainder of the Resistance.
- Third Eye: The only one of the Metarex commanders to don these.
- Unrobotic Reveal: Just like his fellow commanders, he is a male member of Cosmo's species.
Final Mova
Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Matt Hoverman (EN) Other Languages
The result of Dark Oak and his remaining Metarex commanders fusing into a giant plant-like creature as part of the forestation project to eradicate all non-plant life in the galaxy.
Tropes associated with the Final Mova:
- Botanical Abomination: It's a massive hydra made of plantlife, with its necks terminating into roots that encompass a planet. Its further forms are a colossal, appalling looking seed, and finally a compressed core.
- Final Boss: The last threat faced by Sonic and his team in the finale and the entire series.
- Fusion Dance: Dark Oak, Pale Bayleaf, and Black Narcissus fuse into this monstrosity with the aid of the Planet Eggs and Chaos Emeralds. Presumably, if they were still alive, Yellow Zelkova and Red Pine could have likely added to it as well.
- Genius Loci: A giant sentient plant that has Dark Oak's consciousness even after losing two of its heads.
- Multiple Head Case: In its first form, it has three dragon-like heads, each with the matching colors of Dark Oak, Pale Bayleaf and Black Narcissus. Even after Black Narcissus and Pale Bayleaf are destroyed by the Sonic Power Cannon, Dark Oak's head is absorbed into Final Mova.
Other characters
Molly
Captain Molly is the leader of the Resistance, a group of humans on the planet Cascade fighting against the Metarex as a last stand for their home.
- Due to the Dead: After her death, Shadow builds her
- Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrifices her life to defeat the Metarex. Though the 4Kids dub edits this out.
- Mouthscreen
- Spared by the Adaptation: The English dub tones it down so that instead of a Heroic Sacrifice she flies off into space to fight the Metarex, apparently not bothering to say goodbye to Shadow.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Maria, lampshaded by Rouge.
Leon
Voiced by: Yuuki Tai (JP), Frank Frankson (EN) Other Languages
A former member of the resistance and trusted ally of Molly, who worked alongside her as a fighter pilot before betraying her.
- Death Equals Redemption: In his final moments, he uses the last of his strength to tell Rouge and Shadow about the Metarex's plans.
- Heel Realization: Has one when Molly dies, making him start to rethink his decisions. He also admits that Molly was right during his final moments.
- Fallen Hero: Once a member of the resistance, he and his team betrayed Molly and tried to make a pact with the Metarex, under the promise of letting them join and be spared.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: He and the rest of the resistance betrayed Molly to the Metarex, helping cause her death when their betrayal causes her to try to attack the Metarex ship out of grief for what they had done. And while they do few horrible for what happened, they ultimately remain sided with the Metarex until they mistakenly give Pale Bayleaf a fake Chaos Emerald, resulting in their deaths when he attached them to trees that slowly devoured them. By the time Shadow and Rouge find Leon, he is the only one remaining note , now left with the bitter realization that the Metarex had fooled him and the others and that they had betrayed Molly for nothing as she was right all along.
