Foreboding, isn't it?
Sea3on is an ongoing fan-made webcomic continuation of Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), created by the fansite Fans United for SatAM. The whole comic is based on what details were revealed about the plot of the intended third season of the show.Picking up from the ending of the cartoon, Dr. Robotnik, the Emperor Scientist and former Big Bad, has been defeated, his Doomsday Project has been thwarted, and the Freedom Fighters are finally ready to take back their world. Unfortunately, Snively steps up and takes over Robotnik's empire, and former one-shot villain Naugus returns to wreak his own special brand of havoc. The FF, however, are prepared to fight to the end, and are joined (sort of) by Knuckles the Echidna, who has his own agenda.
The comic currently consists of eight chapters and four interludes in-between, with a few one-shot jokes here and there. The series can be read here
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In 2019, FUS announced an animated adaptation of Sea3on was in the works. It will be an adaptation of the webcomic, with some occasional changes. Trailer can be seen here.. In June of 2022, the animated project was given coverage on IGN. In November 2022, it achieved signatory status within SAG-AFTRA. In a June 2023 update, they revealed that in October 2023, they will be collaborating in house with a development team that will work full time on finalizing the animation.
The comic has since been put on indefinite hiatus, with no updates in over a year, to focus entirely on the development of the pilot.
Sea3on contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Heroism: Snively plays Marley in the Yet Another Christmas Carol comic, though as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who used to run the village alongside Sally.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Not to say that Knuckles is dimwitted, but in this comic, he's portrayed as a serious, calculating figure who will only use violence as a last resort.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- In his single appearance in the original show, Naugus was not outright hostile to Sonic or the Freedom Fighters; he did use them for his plans, but was more concerned with getting his vengeance on Robotnik. In this comic, however, he is clearly a villain in every sense of the word. Note however this is to some degree accurate to future intentions for the official series, where Naugus was stated to become the Big Bad for the cancelled Season Three.
- Sally plays the lead character in the Yet Another Christmas Carol mini comic.
- Dirk didn't have much characterization when he appeared in the finale other than being the leader of another group of Freedom Fighters. Here, he's a General Ripper Commander Contrarian who offers one of his own soldiers to Sally simply so that he can have a mole inside the Knothole group.
- Cat zigzags this. He gets angry at Bunnie for refusing to help him and the other roboticized Mobians, and sics them on her and Gavin. That being said, he saw Bunnie as an opportunity to return to normal, and her rejecting his proposal to test his cobbled together De-Roboticiser after years of being part flesh, part metal was too much for him to accept.
- Always Need What You Gave Up: Defied. Bunnie turns down Cat's experimental deroboticization process because she knows she can’t afford to give up her biggest advantage yet.
- Anti-Magic: Knuckles can apparently protect the Chaos Emeralds from being tracked by Naugus' magic through some means.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Sonic delivers one to Sally in the Christmas Carol comic before leaving with Rotor. His "I'll be sure to let Tails know you said hello." leaves her speechless.
- Badass Long Robe: Knuckles wears one, complete with a hood.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Naugus and Snively.
- Big Damn Heroes: On several occasions, one of the Freedom Fighters, usually Sonic, manages to arrive just in time to save the others from peril.
- The Bus Came Back: Cat, the Freedom Fighter who was captured and roboticised way back in "Sonic Boom", returns in Chapter 7.
- Cardboard Prison: During the first chapter, "Back to Square One", Sonic, Sally, and Bunnie are imprisoned in a jail cell. Sonic is taken away for questioning, and Sally manages to trick the SWATbots into letting them go after realizing that Snively altered their audio receptors to make them think he was Robotnik.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Sonic, of course. Whether he's being strapped into a chair for (possibly brutal) interrogation or facing impending doom, Sonic always has a wisecrack or two in store for the bad guys.
- Christmas Episode: A Yet Another Christmas Carol mini comic with no continuity to the main project was made for Christmas 2012.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Dulcy, though considering
her status among the fans, this is probably a good thing. - Conscience Makes You Go Back: In chapter 4, Knuckles gets a hold of the Chaos Emerald and starts to bail out and leave Sonic and co. to deal with Naugus and Snively, but when he remembers that Sally had risked her life to save him from Naugus, he has a pang of conscience and goes back to help.
- Continuity Nod:
- Chapter 4 sees the Freedom Fighters return to Maga, the setting of "Sonic and the Secret Scrolls".
- Tails' hockey stick from "Sonic Past Cool" can be seen in his hut.
- Cover Version: The animated adaptation of the comic features a cover of the iconic theme song, 'Fastest Thing Alive' by legendary Sonic games musician Johnny Gioeli of Crush 40 fame.
- Delayed Narrator Introduction: The narrator of the Christmas Carol comic is revealed to be Tails.
- Demoted to Extra: Robotnik himself has yet to make a full appearance in the comic, only being mentioned by other characters and seen in flashbacks.
- Dimensional Traveller: Naugus.
- The Dragon: Naugus is initially this to Snively, but soon reveals his own agenda and plans.
- Elemental Powers:
- Unlike the games, the Chaos Emeralds are said by Naugus to have these, specifically the abilities of Fire, Water, Wind, Rock, Forest, Light, and Darkness.
- Naugus has some elemental magic as well; he's particularly fond of encasing Sonic's feet in ice.
- Evil Counterpart: The robo-Bunnie from the second short "Me and My Shadow".
- Generation Xerox: Sally's mother and Rotor's grandfather in Chapter 5.
- Genius Bruiser: The SatAM incarnation of Knuckles is this. A subtle, intelligent fellow who has a punch that can incapacitate Naugus and smash a block of ice to pieces.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: See Cardboard Prison above.
- Hopeless with Tech: Naugus prefers relying on his magic over Snively's techno skills and robots, and considering the latter's track record, it's quite justified.
- Hypno Ray: Naugus uses this on both Sonic and Sally to varying degrees of success.
- MacGuffin: The Chaos Emeralds, just like in the games.
- Mama Bear: When Tails accompanies them on missions, his safety becomes Sally's top priority. The best examples of this can be seen in Chapter 4:
- When Snively (in a remote controlled mech) and Naugus corner them, Tails looks afraid, while Sally has a protective hand on his shoulder.
- Snively tries to blast the group, and Sally practically hugs Tails to her and pulls him out of the line of fire.
- Mecha-Mooks: Wouldn't be Sonic without 'em.
- Neck Lift: Sally is a victim of one at the claw of Naugus.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By using the Deep Power Stones to destroy the Doomsday Project, Sonic and Sally caused energy waves to spread all over Mobius and into The Void, allowing Naugus to use his place-switching spell on Robotnik and escape.
- Not His Sled: Details revealed about the third season stated that NICOLE would eventually be revealed to be a childhood friend of Sally's whose consciousness was trapped in the computer (much like Archie eventually got around to doing). Here she's Sally's mother!
- Re-Cut: Of a sort. There was another Sea3on comic that was uploaded to the Internet five years before the current version, but that version suffered from a constantly revolving number of artists—many times within the same issue—resulting in very uneven and ever-changing artwork, not to mention a story riddled with plot holes and numerous inconsistencies with the previous TV series. Suffice to say, the original Sea3on is lost to the annals of the Internet (and for good reason), and the current version of the comic is far superior.
- Sixth Ranger: Gavin the Bat, who is transferred to the Knothole Freedom Fighters from Dirk's team at the end of Chapter 6.
- Sixth Ranger Traitor: He's just there so that Dirk can have a mole inside the Knothole group.
- Stepford Smiler: The first interlude, "Waiting is the Hardest Part", reveals that, behind his Gung Ho Soldier/Deadpan Snarker attitude, Sonic is in fact guilt-ridden and troubled over the various losses he has suffered throughout the fight against Robotnik and considers himself a failure, though he is nonetheless determined to win the war in the long run.
- Trauma Conga Line: Sally suffers this. The first time is towards the end of the first chapter when she realizes that despite Robotnik being gone, the war isn't over yet, resulting in a brief Heroic BSoD. The second time is at the end of the third chapter when Naugus reveals that her father is trapped in The Void with Robotnik.
- Villainous Breakdown: The stresses of trying and failing to be as menacing an opponent to the Freedom Fighters as his uncle was combined with Naugus' dismissive attitude towards him has eaten away at Snively's sanity enough that by the time we first see him in Chapter 6, he's been reduced to a ranting, disheveled figure.
- What Measure is a Non-Mobian?: Rotor goes through this in the short between Chapters 4 and 5, "The Mechanic's Puzzle", with a SWATbot he's attempting to repair that's developed sentience and, subsequently, gratitude towards the Freedom Fighter for attempting to repair him.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Chapter 5 is one told by Queen Nicole Acorn to Sally and Sonic via pre-recorded message on NICOLE.
- Would Hurt a Child: In Chapter 2, Tails performs a Big Damn Heroes moment by tackling an off-guard Naugus when the wizard is about to kill an immobile Sonic. Naugus retaliates by freezing Tails' namesakes in mid-air sending the fox cub plummeting to his doom from the top of the in-construction Chaos Eye, only to be saved by Knuckles in the nick of time.
- Xanatos Gambit: Naugus pulls off one in Chapter 3: Attacking Sally, Bunnie, and Rotor inside Snively's Chaos Eye, he admits to them his dissatisfaction of serving Snively and offers them an alliance in exchange for the safe return of Sally's father. Even though the Freedom Fighters refuse, Naugus doesn't deactivate the bombs they have already placed inside the Chaos Eye, destroying it and forcing Snively to rely on his magic to track down the Chaos Emeralds, just like Naugus originally intended.
- Yet Another Christmas Carol: A separate mini comic was made as a side project to Sea3on, with Sally playing a Well-Intentioned Extremist variation of Scrooge.
