About Sonic Amalgam

What is Sonic Amalgam?

Sonic Amalgam is a work of fan fiction that amalgamates the many different continuities of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the world's most beloved characters, originally debuting in June of 1991 in his self-titled adventure on the Sega Mega Drive (that's Genesis to you Americans!). Sonic has been adapted into around thirty different continuities, including various comic books, novels, television series and movies. Sonic Amalgam aims to take the characters, locations and iconic moments of all of these adaptations- and the video games themselves- and combine them into one narrative encompassing Sonic's world.

What will Sonic Amalgam adapt?

Sonic Amalgam aims to adapt every Sonic continuity, but not every Sonic story. There are quite literally hundreds of stories starring Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends but a great number of them are incompatible with one another. For example, Power of the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic the Comic would override much of the Sonic & Knuckles video game. Sonic Amalgam's approach to major stories will be to give priority to the video games but to take elements from each adaptation of them. The most notable stories from the each additional continuity will also be adapted but with elements from other continuities incorporated.

What will Sonic Amalgam not adapt?

While Sonic Amalgam will adapt the most notable and interesting stories in the Sonic pantheon, not every single story will qualify. As stated above, not all Sonic tales are compatible with one another and some are, to be frank, less worthy of note than others. Some continuities have fewer stories, making it more likely their entirety will be adapted. Other, larger continuities (for example, Sonic the Comic, Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic books and Sonic X) may have elements of their stories combined with others or dropped entirely. The only continuity that is guaranteed representation and priority is the video game continuity (with a few exceptions; see below) as it is the source material that all others are indebted to.

Sonic Amalgam does not intend to adapt every single Sonic story in existence. For certain continuities, expert fans may be consulted for what they believe are noteworthy as the author's history with the franchise reflects British sensibilities informed by Sonic's 1990s heyday, whereas some stories may resonate more with younger audiences or those from other countries- Sonic Amalgam intends to respect all continuities equally where possible!

Sonic Amalgam will most likely not adapt crossovers. This includes the two Mega Man crossovers and the Image Comics crossover by Archie Comics and Sonic's appearances in the Smash Bros. series. These crossovers require huge amounts of context from outside franchises that will not be given appropriate page space as part of Sonic Amalgam.

Which characters will appear in Sonic Amalgam?

Every character of note is intended to appear in Sonic Amalgam, though not all in starring or spotlighted roles. There are over 200 characters that appear in at least two continuities of Sonic the Hedgehog and each of these are guaranteed at least one appearance in Sonic Amalgam. The most frequently appearing of these will comprise the main and regular cast (did you know one character most notable for appearing in adaptations of the source material has racked up more continuities than every character except Sonic, Robotnik, Tails and Knuckles?).

Sonic Amalgam does not consider every named character to be a character of note. What constitutes this bearing is dependant on the continuity they originate from. For example, a spotlighted character from a single episode of one of the cartoons would be more noteworthy than a named character that only appeared as a background or incidental character in a single issue of one of the comic books, but less notable than a comic book character that appeared in multiple issues or stories.

A question of style: Eggman or Robotnik?

In the Japanese video games and adaptations, Sonic's enemy has always been named Dr. Eggman. In the West the character's name was changed to Dr. Ivo Robotnik but he was later reverted to his Japanese name. These days the character's full name is generally accepted to be Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, with Eggman as a nickname. Some western continuities adopted the change, some resisted it. Sonic Amalgam intends to primarily use the Robotnik name, but the Eggman title will likely appear from time to time too.

What is Sonic Amalgam's policy on the "Online" continuations?

Though they are a long way off yet, Sonic Amalgam considers the online continuations of Sonic the Comic and Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog series to be valid continuations of their officially licensed predecessors. STC's online era has been fully endorsed by almost the entirety of the creative and editorial team behind it and given tacit nods of approval from arms of Sega themselves. With this in mind, it would be disingenuous to disregard Archie Sonic Online outright. Likewise, the fan-led attempt to restore the unfinished issues of Archie's comic before its cancellation will be treated as true interpretations.

What format will Sonic Amalgam take?

Sonic Amalgam aims to be a long-running project. With this in mind, rather than give readers the task of reading everything as part of a continuous and ever-lengthening, ever-more-daunting tale, the story itself will be split into "Acts" in honour of the classic Sonic the Hedgehog video games. Each Act will be roughly novel-sized and will feature its own set of major events in the lives of Sonic and his friends.

What characters and stories are coming up?

Act Two of Sonic Amalgam will consist of fifty chapters (plus prologue, epilogue, coda and a bonus story). It will covers Sonic's first several adventures with his young friend Tails as the two of them work together to stop Doctor Robotnik's ongoing attempts at global conquest. Continuities covered include the video games (specifically, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Master System/Game Gear, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Mega Drive and arcade title SegaSonic the Hedgehog) and elements of Sonic the Comic, Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog series and DiC's Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons.

Some of the notable characters to appear in Act Two aside from Sonic the Hedgehog and Doctor Ivo Robotnik include Miles "Tails" Prower, Johnny Lightfoot, Porker Lewis, Ben Muttski, Charles the Hedgehog, Sally Acorn, Antoine D'Coolette, Bunnie Rabbot, Rotor Walrus, Mighty the Armadillo, Ray the Flying Squirrel, Omni-Viewer. A number of these characters will have their roles in the plot reimagined to allow a better cohesion of the world. There will also be a few surprise appearances and a number of lesser characters.

About the Author

Luke Fletcher was born on July 2nd 1987 and received his first introduction to the world of Sonic the Hedgehog on his fifth birthday in the form of a Sega Game Gear and Sonic the Hedgehog video game. Since then, Sonic has remained a constant presence in his life. Fletcher has a fondness for all forms of Sonic the Hedgehog media, having played most of the video games, seen every cartoon episode, read every book and sought out every serialised comic strip adventure, but his favourite iteration of the character- and perhaps the work of fiction most impactful on his life- can be found in Sonic the Comic, the UK's official Sega comic from 1993-2002. From 2013 to 2021, Fletcher was part of the online iteration of Sonic the Comic and wrote numerous comic strip adventures starring the comic's cast of characters.

In addition to penning a stage-play and a pair of murder mystery evenings, Fletcher is also the author of Sharper Than A Cyber-Razor Cut, a guide to the behind-the-scenes story of the first 25 years of Sonic the Comic; and Gonna watch 'em all!, an episode guide blog in which he attempts to work his way through the Pokémon anime series. Sonic Amalgam represents his first serious attempt at a solo production in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom.

Fletcher lives in the North-East Derbyshire town of Chesterfield in England's East Midlands.