Sonic Universe


 * "Sonic! He can really move!
 * Sonic! He's got an attitude!
 * Sonic! He's the fastest thing alive!"


 * -Theme song, Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM

In 1990, the Sega Corporation asked Naoto Ōshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara, and Yuji Naka to come up with a character to replace their current mascot, Alex Kidd, and to serve as a rival to Nintendo's powerhouse, Mario. The three came up with a character who, when his first game was released for the Sega Genesis in June 1991, blew the world away.

This was the debut of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Basic Universe Summary
The Sonic Universe is actually a minor multiverse of several parallel realities centered around the planet of Mobius, which is the target of a takeover/invasion by a scientific genius (Dr. Ivo Robotnik, also known as Dr. Eggman). Standing in his way are the planet's current inhabitants, always led by a blue-furred 15-year-old anthropomorphic hedgehog, Sonic. Capable of running at speeds that exceed the speed of sound and possessing enough attitude to power an entire month of the 90's on his own, Sonic is a force to be reckoned with.

The universe has undergone a vast slew of adaptions and alterations since its introduction in 1991, and at this point contains an inordinate number of canon characters and realities. The three oldest are Sonic, his friend Miles "Tails" Prower, a fox with two tails that he can spin rapidly to fly, and Knuckles, an echidna with a deep connection to the universe's local MacGuffins, the Chaos Emeralds.

The Animated Universes
In 1993, DiC Entertainment in coordination with Sega released two Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons in syndication. The cartoons aired at different times of the week; one was named Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, shortened in the fandom to AoStH. The other aired on Saturdays, and was simply titled Sonic the Hedgehog; due to its timeslot and to differentiate it from the game of the same name, this show gained the fan nickname of Sonic SatAM or just SatAM (after its airing time of Saturday A.M.).

Notably, the characters of Sonic and Tails, despite being technically different in each show, had the same voice actors: Jaleel White (A.K.A. Steve Urkel) for Sonic, and Bradley Michael Pierce for Tails.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
The weekday show was much more comical and slapsticky than its weekend cousin, and featured Sonic and Tails foiling the efforts of an astoundingly ineffective Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his hench-robots (Scratch the rooster, Grounder the drill-bot, and Coconuts the monkey). The show was done in a very abstract art style and had little unified plot, and was definitely the more child-oriented of the two shows. Still, it proved quite popular despite its competition, and lasted for 65 episodes before being scrapped so the resources put into it could be shifted to the SatAM series.

Sonic SatAM
The Saturday show, in contrast, was far more dark. In SatAM, Dr. Robotnik has already won, conquering Mobius and turning large portions of it into an industrial wasteland. But from those forests and natural areas that still remain, the Mobian Freedom Fighters strike back at Robotnik's evil robotic empire, led by the heroic Princess Sally Acorn and the fast-talking, fast-moving Sonic the Hedgehog. Notable for its dark tone, its serious plotline, and its pushing of a green Aesop that was actually quite subtle, the SatAM series would prove the longer-lived of the two, finally going under only after a ratings battle with the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (and even then, ending well-wrapped up).

Archie Comics publish a monthly comic book titled "Sonic the Hedghog" which is about to reach its 200th edition. This comic features the characters found in SatAM, plus several from the games. It has also added some new canon characters in the shape of a family for Knuckles. A companion title "Knuckles the Echidna" lasted 32 issues before ceasing production.

PPC Analysis
OC's tend to infest the Sonic fandom, but bad slash is just as big of if not an even bigger problem. The problem with Sonicverse OCs is that they are relatively easy to create, due to the art style and a high number of canon characters practically just being Sonic recolors themselves.