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chrysalis-the-butterfly · 2 years

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Queer Ladies of Sonic the Hedgehog

The Sonic franchise doesn’t have a whole lot of romance. There’s the occasional ship tease, and that’s about it. And there definitely isn’t a lot of queer content.

However, there are some Sonic characters who have been confirmed to be LGBT+ in some way. It’s usually just a behind-the-scenes comment from someone working on the series, rather than representation in the story itself - but hey, it’s better than nothing.

I was interested in the women and girls in particular, so here’s all the (almost) canonically queer ladies associated with Sonic the Hedgehog.

Look under the cut to see the full list!

Sally Acorn is bisexual and Nicole the Holo-Lynx is in love with her.

Pre-reboot, Sally was Sonic’s girlfriend. Post-reboot, however, the writers place a greater emphasis on her connection with Nicole. This would suggest that Sally is bisexual.

Nicole loves Sally back, so - depending on whether you see her pre-reboot interactions with Shard and Espio as friendly or romantic - you could read Nicole as lesbian or bi.

At one point during the Spark of Life arc, Sally asks Big the Cat if he minds that Nicole isn’t organic like the rest of the Freedom Fighters. Big’s response is, “As long as they’re nice, I don’t care what anyone is.” This exchange could be read through a queer lens - in which case, Sally is checking to see if others are okay with her dating Nicole, and Big is suggesting that he’d accept them.

Ian Flynn has stated that he supported the Sallicole pairing and left subtle hints to it throughout the Archie Comics series. However, it wasn’t featured too strongly because he knew a large proportion of the Sonic fanbase would not accept Sally dating anyone other than Sonic.

Gold the Tenrec is sapphic.

Evan Stanley stated on her Tumblr blog @spiritsonic that she was “leaning towards either bisexual or lesbian” for Gold’s orientation. She added that Gold would crush on Blaze, Sally or Clove: “women who seem to have their s*** together”.

Gold’s sapphic identity was never established in the comic before it was cancelled. In the Silver Age arc, her only appearance, she was surrounded by boys and men - Silver the Hedgehog and Professor Von Schlemmer.

Clove the Pronghorn is a lesbian.

Aleah Baker has stated that Clove was intended to be written as a lesbian. Her conflict with Sally and Lupe had “a mix of admiration of their leadership with a bit of a crushing angle”; that was Baker’s mentality when writing.

However, there was “zero romantic angle” to Clove’s story, her lesbian identity was never acknowledged, and the comic ended before she could be put in a situation where romantic stuff would become relevant.

Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf are in love with each other.

The creative team at IDW Publishing is aware that people ship Tangle and Whisper, and has been leaning into it in subtle ways. For example, Whisper’s tail wags rapidly when Tangle puts an arm around her.

Flynn has explained that SEGA does not want the IDW comics to “go in-depth” with any romantic relationships - even Sonic and Amy are supposed to be “just very good friends”. So in a similar vein, Tangle and Whisper have to be written as “really, really, really, really, really, really the bestest of friends.” But hints are still being dropped.

Amy Rose and Tekno the Canary got married and had a kid.

In Sonic the Comic, Amy and Tekno were two Freedom Fighters and good friends who were sought out by the Ring of Eternity, a sentient dimensional warp which sent them on missions to right wrongs and fight injustice through time and space.

In an issue of the fan continuation Sonic the Comic Online which was co-written by Nigel Kitchen (someone who contributed to the original series), a glimpse into the future reveals that Amy and Tekno will settle down together and have a son, and that Sonic will be his godfather.

Given that Amy and Tekno also have a soft spot for the boys in their life (Sonic and Shortfuse, respectively), it could be said that they are bisexual in this continuity.

Rouge the Bat and Topaz had something going on.

When these two women first meet, Rouge asks Topaz what she likes to do with her handcuffs (a joke that was cut from the official English dub). She also teases Topaz about her age and weight.

However, it’s hinted that a more friendly, or even romantic, relationship has developed over time. When the portal to Sonic’s world is powered up, Rouge gives Topaz a gem - “a steal” from the jewellery store - as a parting gift. She then bids her companion farewell as she enters the portal, leaving Topaz weeping.

Rouge could be considered to be bisexual, given her canonical interest in both Topaz and Knuckles.

Emerald the Iguana is genderfluid, Crystal the Cat is bisexual, and Sapphire Flutterby is a lesbian. (And Jewel the Beetle might be a lesbian too.)

Emerald, Crystal and Sapphire are some of the “Jewel Crew” OCs created by Jennifer Hernandez. They have made cameos in the IDW series now that Hernandez is an official Sonic artist. And one year, for Pride Month, Hernandez posted a picture of the Jewel Crew waving various pride flags on Twitter. So I’m counting them as official queer characters. I know, it’s a bit of a cheat.

Three of Hernandez’s OCs are queer, and the other two (Jade the Cat and Ruby Ringtail) are allies.

One of the queer characters is Emerald, who is genderfluid. Emerald used to have she/her pronouns, but I don’t know if that’s still the case.

Secondly, Crystal (the pale pink cat) is bisexual, and Hernandez ships her with Mighty the Armadillo.

Finally, Sapphire (the butterfly) is a lesbian, and Hernandez ships her with Jewel the Beetle, as seen in her Patreon art. This could mean that Jewel is also a lesbian, or at least questioning her orientation.

And there you have it! All the (almost) canonically queer ladies of the Sonic franchise!

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