Beyond Continuity Intro

Beyond Continuity is a series where I take a story or character and give my take on how I would present them. The goal is to take what exists in official continuities and improve on it or to show alternate paths the story or characters could have taken. Any and all suggestions on improvements to these entries are welcome.

Metal Sonic: Introduction and Continuity

The character Metal Sonic exists in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. There are many versions of this character across different continuities but for this piece, I will be basing my writing on his Game Continuity self. In this post, I will explain how he operates in official game canon with highlights from other media. Then in Part Two, I will go over my personal interpretation of the character.

The Sonic the Hedgehog games are set in a futuristic version of Earth (depending on the writer; that continuity gets tangled) where anthropomorphic animals (Mobians) exist alongside humans. It focuses on a blue, supernaturally fast hedgehog named Sonic fighting against an evil robot-creating human named Dr. Robotnik (or Eggman), the latter of which seeks to take over the world.

In the second Sonic game, Eggman creates the first robot Sonic called Mecha Sonic which Sonic easily defeats. However, in the third game, Sonic CD, we are introduced to Metal Sonic, who rivals Sonic in a race across one of the stages. Metal Sonic crashes during the fight and is destroyed but as the games go on, Eggman rebuilds him or replaces him with newer models.

While other robot Mobians come and go (Mecha Sonic Mk. 2 and Silver Sonic being among the most popular), Metal Sonic remains the most prominent. The height of his involvement in the games occurred in Sonic Heroes, where Metal usurps Eggman as the main threat. Metal Sonic is defeated by the heroes and from then on, remains in the background: sometimes used as a boss fight or playable character but contributing very little to the story as a whole.

“I Want to Be THE Real Boy”

The Door

I’ll get into the most definitive evidence for Metal’s motivations from Sonic Heroes soon but first, I want to take a small detour to the Sonic Boom continuity. In the game Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Metal Sonic has no noticeable changes in personality to the main game continuity. And there is a specific moment where Sonic is able to open a door by putting his hand on a handprint marker. The door recognizes his hand and opens.

Then Metal Sonic arrives. He approaches the door and does this:

Metal gently places his hand on the marker as though expecting to be accepted as the same as Sonic. He’s rejected so he lashes out at the door. Metal Sonic knows he isn’t Sonic in that he knows Eggman built him and even why he built him. He doesn’t believe himself to be a clone. And yet he still tries to open the door as though he believes he is worthy of the title “Sonic the Hedgehog”. And when he is told no, his violent reaction can be seen as lashing out on instinct and punishing the door for not acknowledging what he believes is true.

Metal Sonic is delusional.

Strange, Isn’t It?

One last sidetrack before the main course, we have the animated Sonic the Hedgehog movie from 1996 (often called Sonic OVA). Again, while not canon to the games, nothing about Metal Sonic in it conflicts with how he is presented in the games. In fact, the movie acts as an alternate introduction for Metal Sonic and makes him a much larger threat than he was in Sonic CD.

The movie goes out of its way to show how much Metal is a reflection of Sonic. Eggman captures Sonic to analyze him and transfer not only footage of Sonic, but his entire “Life Data” as Eggman calls it.

Throughout the rest of the movie, Metal Sonic not only imitates Sonic’s mannerisms but shares an opinion with Sonic: “The world isn’t big enough for both of us and one of us has to go”. [See 0:00-0:47 of the video below.]

By the end of Sonic and Metal’s final battle, Metal is definitively defeated. Despite being designed to surpass Sonic, Sonic ultimately proved superior. So, as shown in 6:39-7:49, two things happen. First, Metal Sonic saves two of the film’s characters. He has no reason to do this except for that he was programmed with Sonic’s personality. This doesn’t override Metal’s own personality (as otherwise, they wouldn’t have fought in the first place) but it does influence him. And at his core, my interpretation is that Metal Sonic saves these people because he believes that is what Sonic would do.

Second is that Metal willingly dies. Sonic has just witnessed Metal saving people but Metal is heavily damaged and falls into rising lava. Metal is slowly melting so Sonic tries to save him. But Knuckles holds Sonic back: warning that Metal will drag Sonic down. Metal Sonic claws his way toward Sonic from the lava. But when Sonic reaches out for him, Metal swats his hand away instead before delivering one of the most important lines for any version of the character:

“There is only one Sonic.”

For this version of Metal Sonic at least, only the worthy Sonic can exist. Metal could have been rescued. He could have been repaired and started some new life. But he refuses that. He knows he isn’t the true Sonic in this moment. And he would rather die than live knowing he wasn’t worthy.

What I’m Made Of

Across the main game continuity, Metal Sonic shows very little overt personality and no voice lines until Sonic Heroes in 2003. In all previous appearances, he played the role of Eggman’s enforcer: directly opposing the heroes, getting destroyed, and then later being rebuilt to oppose them again. While you could play as Metal Sonic in certain games, these were just bonuses and not canonical. However, in Sonic Adventure 1, characters can find both Metal Sonic and another robot, Silver Sonic Mk 2, in stasis pods. Despite having the models for both characters, neither are deployed as enemies in the game.

What we learn in Sonic Heroes is that Metal Sonic has evolved: gaining a new level of sentience and purpose. He captures and imprisons Eggman before taking control of his robot armada (The Egg Fleet). The game never properly addresses how but Metal evolves his body into the Neo Metal Sonic form to grant him heightened power. My personal guess is that his ability to analyze and copy information led to him becoming intelligent enough to harness enough power to upgrade his body. This allows him to shapeshift and impersonate both android replicants of Shadow the Hedgehog as well as Eggman himself.

While impersonating Eggman, Neo Metal Sonic orchestrates events to give him even more power. He captures a frog that had been exposed to a powerful enemy (Chaos) from Sonic Adventure 1 as well as a Chao: a small creature with connections to that same enemy and the Chaos Force itself (the main energy used in the games). Furthermore, he analyzes and copies information from the game’s twelve protagonists to surpass each one of them.

Metal Sonic has gained a sense of ambition: now wanting to take over the world with his own power. He compares himself to Sonic as well as another Eggman robot (Omega) and one of the strongest characters in the games, Shadow the Hedgehog. He says how even the ultimate lifeform (Shadow) can’t stop him now and how it’s appropriate that a robot overlord would rule over a robot kingdom (in reference to Omega). In the final battle, he even says “I will become the Ultimate Overlord: ruling as the world’s most supreme being!”

Metal Overlord starts the final battle by greeting Sonic as thus: “Long time no see, Sonic: my loathsome copy!” And as the fight goes on, he says “Sonic, I was created with the sole purpose of destroying you! But I can never seem to defeat you! That is why I transformed my own body with my own hands!”

At one point, Sonic taunts Metal by saying “You actually thought you could defeat me? By transforming into a monster!?” Metal’s response is “But that was the past! Now you’re nothing but a speck of dust to me! See me as I am, no longer afraid of anything!”

When Metal Sonic is defeated, he cries out “Why? I had it all! I am the ultimate overlord: Metal Sonic! I am the real Sonic!” And after his defeat, he reverts to his Neo form only to revert further to his traditional Metal Sonic body. With his spirit broken, Metal just wants to know, “It’s no use but why can’t I defeat you?” Sonic’s answer is… less than satisfactory, just saying “Because… we’re Sonic Heroes.” I like to think that Metal Sonic collapsing after hearing that is a “dies of cringe” moment.

All of that dialogue makes for a great deconstruction of Metal’s character. His original purpose was only defeating Sonic. The impression I’ve always taken from this is that Metal resents his programming and in a way, sees defeating Sonic as a way to fully break free of his prime directive. But beyond breaking free of literal programming, he needs to surpass Sonic to feel validated. Just like in the OVA, “There is only one Sonic”.

Metal Sonic calls Sonic his copy, referring to himself as the “real” Sonic as though there were some conspiracy where Sonic stole Metal’s life and was actually a copy of him. It speaks to a level of insanity on Metal’s part as well as denial. He calls Sonic and his friends a speck of dust in his eyes and claims not to be afraid of anything. But I see all of this as bluster. Metal Sonic remains obsessed with Sonic and lives in constant fear of him. Metal doesn’t fear Sonic as though he’d destroy him or hurt him. He fears being subordinate to him: inferior to him.

This also speaks to something the game doesn’t even touch on, that being Metal Sonic’s perspective on Eggman. While Metal imprisoned and impersonated Eggman, he expresses no opinions about him and goes back to being his subordinate in future games. And while it’s a shame we didn’t get more on that subject, there is evidence to suggest Metal Sonic would accept working for Eggman once he’s defeated. Metal has fully given up. He says it’s “no use”. And while this is just inference, I think of this as Metal resigning himself to returning to his master. He doesn’t even have the motivation to rival Sonic again but he still wants to know what he did wrong that after all his efforts, he still failed to best Sonic. And when Sonic’s answer is so simple, Metal can’t comprehend what he’s meant to take away.

It says a lot that Metal doesn’t say a lot after this game. In fact, I don’t know of any future games where he speaks actual words. The closest instance is a hub world interaction in Sonic Generations where he challenges Sonic. But given that Sonic Generations involves time travel, that isn’t a reliable chronological indicator (though it’s greatly implied if not definitively shown to be Metal Sonic from the Classic Era games such as Sonic CD). Many have speculated that Eggman removed Metal Sonic’s voice chip and even undid some of the programming that gave him greater sentience.

And You Peaked

Metal Sonic ends as a particularly tragic antagonist. In my opinion, he peaked far too early. We are 22 years removed from Sonic Heroes and while he’s made reappearances, none of them have shown any significant character work or evolution. SEGA won’t kill him off given how popular he is. If they were to make him the main villain again, they’d have to work hard to not repeat the same beats as Sonic Heroes. There are versions of Metal Sonic who became heroic but not in the games and there haven’t been any indication the games will go that direction. Then there’s what Sonic Heroes doesn’t address by its end. While it’s understandable why a more lighthearted game like Sonic Heroes wouldn’t go further into that character’s tragedy, it still leaves me wondering what all the characters really think about his fate.

What does Sonic think? Does he assume Metal was destroyed after Heroes and that those he faces afterward are just the next model? Does he feel a sense of empathy like in the OVA and have any desire for Metal to be rescued from Eggman? Would he get help to restore Metal’s sentience, knowing the risk that would bring?

What does Eggman think? Does he fear that Metal will evolve again and turn on him once more? What level of sentimentality does he have for the robot? Does he look down on Metal as his ultimate failure or does he consider Metal’s later subservience as penance? Has he given up on serious investment into Metal Sonic? Would he care if Metal was destroyed entirely? How long until he decides it isn’t worth rebuilding him after his next defeat?

I’m sure other characters would also have opinions. Amy Rose–Sonic’s ultimate fangirl–could see Metal Sonic as terrifying or tragic as a reflection of the hedgehog she loves. Shadow and Omega could have some level of sentimentality toward Metal Sonic as mutual creations of the Robotnik family (as Eggman created Omega and Eggman’s grandfather–Gerald Robotnik–created Shadow). But those subjects aren’t really explored in most Sonic media. The discontinued Fleetway comics and the IDW comic run are the only two which have done any significant work for Metal Sonic’s character. But as for the games, Metal has been relegated to an iconic husk to use as boss fights.

Part Two in development