The Pandora AU is an Alternate Universe Fic Webcomic that began on May 15th, 2022 and was created by tumblr user starrjoy
. The story's setting borrows elements from a multitude of continuities in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, including (most notably) the 1999 cartoon series Sonic Underground, the 1998 DreamCast game Sonic Adventure and the IDW run of comics.
Eggman's back with a new trick. From the ocean where Christmas Island sunk into, the souls of its residents have risen up and taken the shape of water wraiths. Their faces are painfully familiar to Sonic. Looking out at the empty horizon, he tells Tails the tragic story of a little blue prince, his family, and a big destiny that came at the cost of his home.
Now that Christmas Island has resurfaced, Eggman seeks to finish what Sonic started by releasing Pandora, the calamitous severed half of Chaos. In order to stop him, Sonic and company must traverse the island and retrieve the Chaos Emeralds before Eggman gets a hold of them, and Sonic will have to meet the faces of the people who he took for granted all those years ago.
The webcomic is archived here. You can find the first page here.
Pandora AU provides examples of:
- Are You Sure You Want to Do That?: Manic and Sonia are both very unsettled when Sonic begins stealing Aleena's things behind her back for a mysterious entity in the vault, and they are sure to ask whether or not Sonic really knows what he's doing. Eventually, though, they decide to aid him.
- Call-Forward: Pandora’s explanation of the prophecy is paired with a panel of Sonic many years later, fighting an unseen villain in space as Super Sonic; a scenario that is very familiar to most Sonic fans.
- Evil All Along: Pandora. She quickly gains the trust of the triplets by telling them that their mother hid the prophecy from them. As soon as she holds Aleena hostage, though, she drops the facade of benevolence entirely.
- Flashback Echo: The first water wraith that Sonic faces takes the shape of Sonia, and it immediately triggers memories of her and her fate to run through Sonic’s head, stunning him.
- Foregone Conclusion: By the time the flashback to Sonic's childhood begins, the reader has been made fully aware how that story ends; Christmas Island will sink into the sea, and Sonic's family will not survive.
- I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: When Manic shows Sonic a secret entrance to the vault, the latter implies he's going there for something specific, but Manic elects to ignore it
- It's All My Fault: Once he realizes that Pandora deceived him, Sonic expresses deep remorse for the role he played in setting her free. The regret still lives in him when he tells his story to Tails.
- Lost Lenore: Bernadette the Hedgehog is the deceased lover of Aleena, whose fate is Aleena’s reason for hiding the knowledge of the prophecy from her children.
- Mama Bear: When she discovers that Pandora had been living in their basement, Aleena swiftly demonstrates that she is willing to fight a god or die trying to protect her children.
- Mythology Gag: The title of Part 2, Return to Christmas Island, is a reference to the Return to Angel Island arc from Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics).
- Relative Button: Early in the story, Eggman pushes Sonic's button by specifically summoning a water wraith in the shape of Sonia, and taunting him about his relations to her.
- Sole Survivor: Out of every citizen of Christmas Island, Sonic seems to be the only one who made it out alive.
- Treacherous Quest Giver: Pandora. With the promise of helping Sonic fulfill his heroic destiny, she has him retrieve several of his mother’s items to complete a ritual. In the end, the true purpose of the ritual is to unchain Pandora and release her into the world.
- Unwitting Pawn: As a child, Sonic fulfilled this role for Pandora. She leads him to believe that the tasks she gives him will help him fulfill his destiny, when in reality, they only serve to further her own destructive goals. Only when Pandora begins threatening to kill Aleena does her deception begin to dawn on him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Sonic resists Sonia trying to lead him and Manic away from their mother, who is winding up for a Heroic Sacrifice, Sonia delivers him one that’s understated, but scathing.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Nearly all of Part 1 is dedicated to a flashback to Sonic’s childhood, framed by present day Sonic explaining to Tails how he lost his siblings.
