Sonic's dense and wacky 90's cartoon doesn't have a shortage of people who don't make the smartest decisions. In fact it might have more
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- This particular Sonic cartoon gives us Dr. Robotnik's goons Scratch and Grounder. Rarely do they properly implement any attacks on Sonic that work, and even when they do, they find a way to screw things up royally.
You'd Expect: That Robotnik would either build new robots or use other ones like Coconuts occasionally, as some of his robots outside of Scratch and Grounder seem to be relatively effective. At the very least, you'd think he'd realise that Scratch and Grounder themselves are the main problem with many of his schemes, and that he would therefore assume they are no longer worth using or demote them.
Instead: He keeps rebuilding the same failures over and over, always wondering where he's going wrong, and constantly sending them to do more dirty work. - Virtually every villain, ESPECIALLY Scratch and Grounder, cannot see through Sonic's disguises despite them usually never hiding his face or his blue color and spines.
You'd Expect: Someone would pick up on the suspicious blue hedgehogs everywhere with the exact same voice as being the same guy.
Instead: Nobody ever realizes it, and when someone does, they rarely are close enough to stop the idiots that don't. - Many during the first episode.
- During the story that Sonic tells Scratch and Grounder, we see Sonic walk into the bounty hunters convention, sit in the front row, and boo sarcastically alongside all the other booing robots as they look at images of Sonic.
You'd Expect: At least ONE robot or Robotnik would hear Sonic or notice him sitting in the front row.
Instead: Robotnik doesn't even realize Sonic's there until Sonic draws sarcastic attention to himself. - Later on, Sonic rushes past multiple robots and runs up to a large green one, then points in the opposite direction and says "I'm over there".
You'd Expect: The robot to chase Sonic.
Instead: He actually looks in the direction Sonic points, and continues looking until he gets run over by a robot stampede. - Later still, Sonic runs past two robots and gives them a pair of ropes and tells them not to let go, before running off.
You'd Expect: That a smart person would let go before anything happens.
Instead: They keep holding on to the point where they are slammed into everything before finally colliding with a wall. - And towards the end, Coconuts shows up, trying to take credit for Sonic's capture. Sonic tells him that if Scratch and Grounder get away, he'll be in trouble.
You'd Expect: That since he tied Scratch and Grounder up, that he'd simply tie them up harder or with more rope.
Instead: He takes Sonic's advice and tries to put them in the cage with Sonic, inevitably resulting in Sonic getting out and putting Coconuts inside with Scratch and Grounder. - And later still, Robotnik shows up in person to take Sonic and Tails to his dungeon personally, only to be in a surprise dust storm (that Sonic caused). Sonic then uses Grounder's phone to contact Robotnik and pretend to be a nearby control tower. Tails points a red flashlight into the dust storm at Robotnik, and Sonic convinces Robotnik that if he can see the lights, he is three feet above the ground and should cut his engines.
You'd Expect: That Robotnik would either recognize Sonic's voice and realize he got away, or at the very least question why a Mobius control tower would want to help such a hated villain. Furthermore, you'd think Robotnik would question the fact that a control tower told him to shut off his engines and simply plummet three feet, and would instead slowly lower to the ground until he made contact.
Instead: Robotnik heeds the advice of the mystery control tower man (never realizing it's Sonic), and cuts his engines. He is then entirely surprised when he falls over 30 feet to the ground, collides with a cage, destroys Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts, and ruins his Egg-o-Matic Hovercraft.
- During the story that Sonic tells Scratch and Grounder, we see Sonic walk into the bounty hunters convention, sit in the front row, and boo sarcastically alongside all the other booing robots as they look at images of Sonic.
- Much of the episode, "Birth of a Salesman" involves Dr. Robotnik buying a series of hedgehog-hunting gadgets from Wes Weasely.
You'd Expect: Dr. Robotnik to use the gadgets himself, since he is the only one competent enough to use them (or in the case of the final attempt, at least more competent than Scratch and Grounder).
Instead: He sends Scratch and Grounder to use the gadgets to catch Sonic every single time. Being too dumb to use the gadgets properly, they fail miserably every single time. Robotnik pins the blame on Weasely, accusing him of selling defective products, and demanding refunds. As Weasely points out, his gadgets work too well, and are in incompetent hands.- During the first situation, Scratch and Grounder attempt to slow Sonic down by activating the Darkenator, which darkens everything. They were also given two pairs of infrared goggles so they can see in the dark while Sonic can't.
You'd Expect: Scratch and Grounder to put on the infrared goggles before activating the Darkenator.
Instead: They activate the Darkenator first. Scratch then asks Grounder to put on the infrared goggles, but Grounder tells them it's now too dark for them to see where they are. As a result, Sonic (who is ducked under the dark cloud) is able to take advantage of the situation by tying them together with a rope, and tricking them into thinking they're parked in a red zone. This causes Grounder to roll away and pull Scratch down, causing them to destroy the Darkenator and themselves in the process. - During a later situation, Scratch and Grounder go ahead and use the Gravity Stopper given to them by Weasely to catch Sonic in an "anti-gravity net" which will result in him being stuck in the air. They succeed; however, Sonic begins stating that Tails can fly them away far better, but if one of the robots comes up to get them, he admits loudly, then they won't get away.
You'd Expect: Any reasonable individual to assume Sonic is either full of it as he is tricky, or that the device doesn't work since the two would just get away, and try something else.
Instead: Scratch takes off his 'Self gravity boots", tries to catch Sonic, then gets stuck himself. Sonic tells him they'll be trapped forever, and Scratch panics and tells Grounder to shut the device off. Grounder is crushed by Scratch as the latter falls from the air, and Tails and Sonic get away. - During the final attempt in the same episode, Robotnik buys the De-atomizer, which has an untested red switch.
You'd Expect: After the last three failures, Robotnik would go along with Scratch and Grounder to supervise them and ensure nothing can go wrong, or more effectively, take matters in his own hands and go by himself.
Instead: He sends Weasely to supervise Scratch and Grounder. Scratch presses the red button, which clones Sonic. After Sonic and his clones chase him and Grounder away by creating a giant popcorn ball, Weasely declones Sonic, and tells him about his experience with Robotnik, convincing Sonic to help him get back at him.
- During the first situation, Scratch and Grounder attempt to slow Sonic down by activating the Darkenator, which darkens everything. They were also given two pairs of infrared goggles so they can see in the dark while Sonic can't.
- In "Musta Been A Beautiful Baby", Sonic, Tails and Dr, Robotnik have been turned into babies and eventually wind up at a daycare center. Robotnik comes up with a plan to leave a trail of jelly beans to a merry-go-round rigged to go off when a dog tied to it starts running. It gets foiled when the owner forces Sonic and Tails to brush their teeth.
You'd Expect: Even in his baby form for Dr. Robotnik not to fall for his own prank.
Instead: When he sees the trail of jelly beans, he starts eating them and gets tricked into getting spun on the merry-go-round when the dog wakes up. - In the episode, "The Magic Hassle", Coconuts buys a series of magical supplies from Wes Weasely, one of which is a mastadon bone that can cast a spell that turns things into stone. Coconuts succeeds in turning Sonic and Tails into stone with it, then calls Robotnik from a nearby phone booth to tell him the good news. An impressed Robotnik asks Coconuts if there is a way to reverse the spell, and Coconuts tells him the only way to do that is to hang up a phone. Upon hearing this, Robotnik tells Coconuts not to hang up the phone and to wait until he comes by to collect Sonic and Tails.
You'd Expect: Coconuts not to hang up the phone.
Instead: Coconuts merely tells Robotnik he won't hang up the phone, then hangs up the phone anyway. Almost immediately afterwards, Coconuts realizes his mistake, but by this time, the spell is broken and Sonic and Tails are turned back to normal. Coconuts tries to recreate the spell, only for Sonic to snatch the mastadon bone from him and toss it into the road, where it gets run over by a cola truck, destroying it. - In "Slowwww Going", Robotnik invents the Slow-mo Ray, which slows down anything it zaps for one hour, which is powered by a Mobian Mega Crystal. By the end of the episode's first act, Scratch and Grounder successfully zap Sonic with it, then lock him in a cage in a cave behind the waterfall. Then they call Robotnik to report their success, with Robotnik telling them he'll be there soon to collect Sonic. Meanwhile, Tails attempts to rescue Sonic.
You'd Expect: One of the robots to hold onto the Slow-Mo Ray in case Tails attempts to rescue Sonic.
Instead: They leave the ray unguarded while they tease and torment Sonic.
As a Result: Tails gets ahold of the ray and attempts to zap Scratch and Grounder with it. Grounder swats the ray out of Tails' hand, but it falls to the ground and the crystal breaks as a result. Scratch puts the broken crystal back in the ray and attempts to zap Tails, but Sonic manages to pull on Scratch's tail feathers, causing Tails to escape with the ray. When he brings it to the Sloth family, Rocket falls on the ray. He gets zapped by it, and due to the crystal breaking, the ray's effects are reversed and Rocket temporarily becomes faster. Tails zaps Rocket's family, and they help him rescue Sonic. When Sonic is returned to normal and Scratch and Grounder are defeated, Robotnik catches Tails holding the ray and demands he return it. Tails instead aims the ray at Robotnik.
You'd Expect: Robotnik to move out of the way.
Instead: He tells Tails not to shoot him, expecting to be slowed down a third time, having already been zapped twice by Scratch and Grounder earlier in the episode.
As a Result: Tails zaps him with the ray, temporarily making him faster.
You'd Expect: With his newfound speed, Robotnik would use it to catch up to Sonic and capture him.
Instead: He flies his Egg-O-Matic hovercraft into a mountain. - When Scratch and Grounder has managed to take the only escape pod on board in "Spaceman Sonic", Robotnik calls the two lackeys to state why the rocket has been abandoned and they're in the abandoned space station. The robot duo states that they'll catch Sonic and bring him back to Mobius.
You'd Expect: Robotnik tells the two to make their escape without Sonic or Tails, so his enemies are permanently stranded while Scratch and Grounder gets home safely.
Instead: Robotnik decides to kill two birds with one stone and blows up the escape pod, stranding his lackeys. And then he kills off Scratch and Grounder.
As a Result: Sonic finds the maimed robots and uses it to rebuild the escape pod, while taking a purple space blob to eat Robotnik. - Even Sonic and Tails aren't immune to these, such as this example where they scope out Robitnik's Casino Night Zone in "High Stakes Sonic". While fighting Scratch and Grounder, they pass by a nursery in the casino. While the nursery has a babysitter, there are no kids to be found.
You'd Expect: Both of them to remember that the Casino is owned by Robotnik and to think twice about a possible ruse.
Instead: Sonic instructs Tails to hang out in the nursery while he fights Scratch and Grounder, thinking it will be safe. Tails discovers that the babysitter works for Robotnik too little too late. She charges Tails 1,000,000 Mobiums for spending ten minutes in the ball pit, and when Tails tells her that he doesn't have that kind of money, she presses a button that opens a trap door in the ball pit.
You'd Expect: Tails to remember that he can easily fly over the trap door and out of harm's way.
Instead: Tails forgets he can fly and is sent down the trap door, leading to Robotnik capturing him. - There's also "Tails' New Home" where Sonic decides to have a family adopt Tails. They pass by a billboard with a missing child message and a picture of Tails as a baby on it. Scratch speaks through the billboard, saying whoever finds Tails can bring him to his parents at an address. The billboard uses another picture of the parents in obvious disguise.
You'd Expect: Sonic and Tails to be suspicious about all this.
Instead: Tails is excited about the thought of meeting these "parents" and coaxes Sonic to take him there. Sonic meanwhile is reluctant, not out of doubt but more upset at the thought of leaving Tails behind.
You'd Expect: When they get there for Sonic to study the mannerisms of these "parents" and confirm they're imposters. Sonic should also remember that Tails' real parents would call him his birth name, Miles, and not the nickname Sonic gave him.
Instead: Sonic raises no fuss when the couple doesn't refer to Tails as Miles. It takes a flashback of Sonic giving Tails his nickname on the day they met to realize that Tails has been kidnapped.
