Fridge / Sonic Forces

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

• During videos of Classic Sonic in the Green Hill Zone, one can see him doing the Sonic CD-style spring spin, and it was said that the Drop Dash ability from Sonic Mania would be used as well. Giving a nod to the other game? Not if the true ending of Sonic Mania has anything to say about it, which implies that the Classic Sonic in Forces is Sonic plucked right out from Mania!
• It's rather weird that G.U.N. is not present or referenced at all in the game. However, given how fast Eggman took control of the world, chances are that G.U.N. was defeated rather quickly. Chances are that after being defeated, the surviving G.U.N. forces regrouped with the resistance. They may not be seen by the player, but that doesn't mean they are not fighting.
  • Or, even more brilliant, they got Phantom Rubied and they think the world's fine.
• Why is Omega such a scale-tipper in the final battle? Not only is he expressly-made to deal with large-scale combat, but he is completely and utterly fearless. He’s so confident in his ability to take on any and all comers that the illusions do nothing to slow him down.
  • Not to mention that he was made explicitly to contain destructive beings like Shadow in the event that they were to go rogue. He was literally made to handle these kinds of situations!
    • Also, it’s likely he was able to detect differences between the Phantom illusions and reality. He is a robot, after all.
• Infinite's Badass Decay after beating Sonic in the intro makes more sense when you remember that he had four other villains (albeit fake ones) backing him up; if Shadow, Zavok, Chaos, and Metal weren't there, Sonic would've had much less trouble focusing on Infinite. And as the leader of a mercenary band, Infinite should be familiar with squad tactics and unused to fighting alone. That, and a 6-month time skip is plenty of time to fall into bad habits, especially since Infinite spent all that time thinking he's invulnerable.
  • Yet another reason is that Sonic had no idea how powerful Infinite was, and was caught completely off guard when he showed up out of nowhere. When they meet again after the Time Skip, Sonic has a better idea of who he's dealing with.
• Shadow doesn't take part in Infinite's beatdown of Sonic like the other villains. This makes sense when you consider that Infinite hated Shadow for humiliating him.
• Most of the lyrics for "Fist Bump" convey the game’s general themes of teamwork and friendship, but one part in particular has a bit of added meaning after playing through the game: “We see today, a world we couldn’t see”. The Phantom Ruby’s power was preventing them from seeing the real world, but after Eggman and Infinite are defeated, it becomes crystal clear.
• Infinite's character design has been roundly mocked as being overly edgy and trying too hard to be cool and dark. Given how his entire self-image revolves around one-upping Shadow, that's probably what's happening in-universe as well. Infinite is literally his own fan-character to convince himself that he's cooler than Shadow.
  • Doubly appropriate given that this is the same game that featured a Character Customization mechanic.
• Apparently, Sonic's defeat in the opening is the turning point in Eggman being able to conquer the world with the Phantom Ruby. With him captured, seemingly no one else can stand up to Eggman, despite other characters like Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, et al having been portrayed as being (nearly) as capable as Sonic. But this makes sense considering more recent series history: Sonic has been the only playable character for Unleashed, Colors, Generations, and Lost World. Sonic's friends haven't taken a part in the action for quite a long time, meaning they must be very rusty at fighting Eggman, and only with Sonic's initial defeat do they find the motivation to finally stand up to Eggman again, given that Sonic was able to do so virtually alone for quite some time.
• The lyrics in Infinite's song are really clever when you think about it. The first part of the song simply builds him up as a really tough guy. Sure, he sounds dangerous, but it still seems like beating him might be doable. But then the song gets really dark, ("When everything you know has come and gone...") and Infinite suddenly sounds more like a cosmic level threat. This also mirrors Infinite's first encounter with Sonic — at first, Sonic simply "hmphs" and tries to attack him like he would with any other villain, only to quickly realize just how powerful Infinite really is.
  • The song frequently makes reference to illusions. While it fits the fatalist attitude of Infinite, it's also a hint at what the Phantom Ruby actually does.
  • The super-edgy opening lines make reference to the four nemeses whom Infinite replicates: "I am the tallest of mountains" (Zavok), "I am the roughest of waves" (Chaos), "I'm the toughest of terrors" (Metal Sonic), and "I am the darkest of days" (Shadow).
  • With the fuller understanding of his character before he put on the mask, the lyrics also take on a different intent. It's not just Infinite boasting about his power, but also him trying to aggrandize and bolster himself as being worthy and powerful to cover up for how he is still the same cruel mercenary and bully at heart.
• Early on, Knuckles refers to a spy in Eggman's army. At first, this kind of implies that someone decided to act as a mole, probably Rouge. Then one remembers Shadow. Considering that part of Eggman's forces include virtual clones of Shadow, it's not hard to believe that Shadow may have capitalized on this to infiltrate Eggman's army.
  • Given how sadistic Infinite is, it's also quite likely he allowed this so that he could torture Sonic and give the Resistance false hope. That, and perhaps let the resistance know the true horrors of his abilities.
• After reclaiming the Phantom Ruby from Infinite, Eggman proves to be as good — if not better — at using it than Infinite is. So why bother with Infinite at all? Simple: Eggman's habit of trying to enslave creatures more dangerous than himself that end up usurping him in the end. What better way to keep the heroes' focus away from him than to invoke the image of that happening again, when in reality he was in control from the get-go? Note how everyone's focus is on Infinite for the entire game, while they see Eggman himself as more or less an afterthought. They'll smash Eggman's stuff, entirely to open up an opportunity to fight Infinite or discover his weakness. In other words: Infinite was a glorified body double for Eggman and didn't even know it.
• It makes sense that Eggman would make fakes of Shadow, Metal Sonic, Chaos, and Zavok. All four individuals have personally backstabbed him in the past.
• In one of the pre-boss fight cutscenes, Eggman berates Infinite for allowing Sonic to live after trashing him, which Infinite brushes off as pointless because he doesn't believe Sonic to be a threat to him. This seems like Eggman giving Infinite a lesson, but in reality, he did the same thing by locking Sonic up instead of killing him when he had the chance. Eggman's just as Genre Blind as Infinite in this scenario.
• If Silver came from a devastated future, that means that the Resistance failed without his presence. How does this work? Silver knocked the Phantom Ruby Prototype out of Infinite’s hands, so that the Avatar could find it!
  • Also, in issue 2 of the tie-in comic, he indirectly gives Knuckles the idea to create a resistance.
• Pay attention to the scene where the Avatar first fights Infinite. They're not wearing the customization clothing you put on them. This brings up so many levels of fridge. Why is the Avatar wearing clothing? Are they trying to not be identified as the coward that ran? Or perhaps not be noticed by Infinite (remember, it took a moment for Infinite to identify the Avatar). Maybe the clothing gives the Avatar some confidence. So much can be taken from this scene.
• Tails is heavily criticized for Badass Decay and not really doing much in Forces, but in reality, he deserves far more credit than he's given: whereas Knuckles' reckless and foolish Operation Big Wave gets 80% of the Resistance wiped out in no time flat, Tails' three-part plan of the Avatar distracting Eggman on the ground, Modern Sonic disabling the Death Egg's defenses, and Classic Sonic blowing up the Death Egg becomes the turning point of the entire war and forces Eggman to retreat. Tails being The Smart Guy and having years of experience against Eggman allows him to easily turn the conflict around thanks to efficient usage of minimal-yet-consistent resources and exploiting the mad doctor's ego, compared to the rest of the Resistance basically trying to Hold the Line and aggressively butt heads with Infinite stupidly.
  • This also goes a long way towards explaining why Eggman managed to take over; Knuckles as the Resistance commander has the Determinator mentality to never roll over and die even when Eggman controls the entire planet, but lacks the strategic smarts for commanding a guerrilla campaign and no one else active at the time is exactly great at that either, as shown by how bluntly the heroes act and react. Silver's dialogue even states in Sunset Heights that they can hold off multiple Death Egg Robots, but not for long, implying that they have solid fighting power but no lasting capability or better methods of dealing with problems beyond throwing their weight at immediate threats. While Sonic's capture took away their primary powerhouse, Tails going missing left them without any solid strategical mind to direct their various strengths to the best effect and thus they floundered about aimlessly, especially given how badly Infinite tipped the scales against them.
  • Another aspect to consider is the nature of the conflict versus the typical way that Sonic and his friends deal with Eggman. In normal cases, the majority of their fights are quick skirmishes and rapid attacks that allow them to end the battle with Eggman or other enemies in a relatively short period of time, usually a matter of days (with the possible exception of Unleashed). In Forces however, they're the ones who are being forced into the defensive, essentially having to use subterfuge and a variety of more defensively orientated tactics over the course of 6 months. This is an especially long time for what is essentially a bunch of teenagers, and unlike other groups in other Sonic media like the Freedom Fighters, the heroes have basically had little to no experience with surviving or dealing with a long term siege or covert operations. Really the fact that they've been able to hold on as long as they did with things so stacked against them is nothing short of a miracle.
• In Null Space, it wasn't the Double Boost that brought Sonic and the Avatar back to reality. It was the Avatar unconsciously activating the Phantom Ruby prototype thanks to the confidence boost of Sonic's refusal to accept that this was an inescapable situation. The Null Space portal was specifically created by the Phantom Ruby, and the Ruby Prototype's main power in the hands of the Avatar is to cancel out the effects of the former.
  • How does Sonic know that there's a way to escape Null Space? Experience. It's just a dark and shadowy version of the Special Stages that have always been part of Sonic tradition, and there's always been an easy way out of them.
• The stages of the final boss' themes actually carry an emotional weight to them that makes sense with the overarching plot of the game, and also the characters.
  • Stage 1: The song is heavily synthetic, fake, and extremely sinister; it fits Eggman extremely well and sounds dire, but nearer to the end of the loop, you can just vaguely hear organic flutes and strings, the sign of a barely silent resistance fighting the Eggman Empire's overwhelming might. You fight this phase as Classic Sonic, whose songs are all Retraux mixes like the older games.
  • Stage 2: An Orchestra with non-lyrical vocal singers joins in, pushing away the synthetics from phase 1 while still remaining serious and dire, both forces are now equally matched and fighting against one another. You fight this phase as the Avatar, whose music has been all smooth rock with lyrics voicing their thoughts, the lack of lyrics can be read as a Tranquil Fury for the last fight.
  • Stage 3: Starting from the orchestra, a slow drumbeat kicks up, then the guitar comes in and the song explodes into a rocking remix of Fist Bump: Eggman is at the end of his rope, the odds are tipped in the good guys' favor, and all that's left is to deliver the final blow to finish the war. This stage is fought as all three characters with Modern Sonic as the lead, all of Sonic's music is the heavy electric guitar we've learned to associate with the blue blur since Sonic Adventure, with the presence of both an orchestra and synthetics to represent the team effort to take Eggman down.
• Why are the army of clones seemingly weaker than when there was only one of each? The Phantom Ruby explicitly only has so much power it can use at once and can be weakened if overexerted. Combined with the virtual sun (which does take a huge bite out of its power supply), it's entirely possible that Infinite simply couldn't make an entire army of fully-powered supervillains without draining the Phantom Ruby entirely.
  • Add to that, the characters who normally refrain from deadly force no longer had to do so, since none of the clones were real.
• Something about the Avatar's relationship with Sonic left me disappointed. It's awesome seeing how much trust Sonic has in you, and how close you got in a short time, but we rarely have time devoted to how it happened. But then it dawned on me. The Avatar isn't just a new character, it's literally you! You've been Sonic's unseen partner for years, maybe decades even, and the bond between the Avatar and Sonic is more to represent the bond between Sonic and the player!
  • Also something brief that I noticed — when playing through the stages as Modern Sonic alone, he often states "we" instead of "I" when voicing his thoughts. E.G.: "Doesn't look like we'll get past without a fight." Who exactly is he referring to, when Sonic is alone in these sections? One might think that it's Sonic talking to the others such as Amy and Knuckles, but it's actually more likely that he's talking to the player, which isn't exactly news, considering that he's directly spoken to the player before.
    • If the Avatar is essentially the player manifested in Sonic's world, this thereby implies that there's some kind of telepathy going on between Sonic and the Avatar, or that Sonic is aware that the player exists both outside and inside the game.
  • This also adds more context to the Avatar leaving at the end of the game: you, the player, would naturally move on to other things after beating the story mode, whether it's turning off the system and doing something else, playing a different game, or even playing or replaying some of the different missions in this game, you have saved the world, so you're free to decide what to do next in the context of this game.
• When the Avatar accidentally disables Infinite's illusions thanks to the Prototype, Infinite is confused by this and yet seems to shrug it off out of sheer arrogance to the point of sparing the Avatar. However, in the Japanese dialogue, he actually considers the possibility of this, and his mercy makes more sense with an earlier piece of exposition that got removed in the English script: that the Phantom Ruby Prototypes are so unstable that they typically only work once. Even if the Avatar did derail the illusion, Infinite had no real reason to suspect it would happen again given the precedent, and the attack right afterwards could even be seen as a test to ensure that this was the case.
• Shadow being playable in Modern Sonic's stages seems tacked on. But on the other hand, the stages where Shadow is playable are places where it makes sense for him to be.
  • Green Hill: Lost Valley (pre-Time Skip): Episode Shadow ends with Rouge sending Shadow to help Sonic when she sees that Sonic is about to lose to Infinite. There's no way for Shadow to make it in time, but he probably did try.
  • City: Sunset Heights: This is where the real Shadow makes his appearance in the main story, destroying his copy and joining the Resistance.
  • Network Terminal, Metropolitan Highway, Mortar Canyon: All take place during major Resistance operations, which Shadow should be participating in.
• The Dub Text of how Infinite and Eggman tortured Sonic for six months comes without any evidence shown of him ever being worse for wear. However, the only detail they gave was that he was made to see how Eggman's army came to Take Over the World from a helpless position. To a lot of people, that would be torture. But to the speedy blue hedgehog who's thwarted a hundred Eggman takeovers already, he's looking at yet another plan that's gonna fall at his and his friends' hands, and so naturally he would have a snarky comment for everything they do. Even after being freed, he's the one who shuts up any "We can't stop this thing" moments the others have by reminding them that they still can just like always, and it's just a matter of how.
• As shown in the digital comic Rise of Infinite, Infinite originally had one blue eye and one yellow eye. But once he gains his mask, his blue eye is covered up, with only his yellow eye showing. Considering what blue eyes and yellow eyes tend to represent, this could be symbolic of Infinite sealing away any good he had in him and making a full Face–Heel Turn.
  • That blue eye might be covered for a good reason. We don't see what Infinite's face looks like after Shadow attacks him. Given that Infinite claims in his song "I've been up against better, just take a look at my face," Shadow might have done something to Infinite's blue eye, symbolizing Shadow's responsibility for making Infinite into a monster.
• More possible symbolism involving Infinite's mask. As noted on the entry for Character Tic on Infinite's page, his mask seems to be loose-fitting, as he keeps pushing it up like a pair of glasses. This could symbolize how Infinite isn't really the invincible badass he thinks he is. That image keeps slipping because he's still a stubborn, cruel, and childish individual on the inside.
• As cliched as The Power of Friendship is, especially in the Sonic series, the relationships between Sonic/the Avatar and Dr. Eggman/Infinite and their respective superpowers show it really does work given some Gameplay and Story Integration. Sonic and the Avatar have the Boring, but Practical Double Boost, which can only be used when they're together. This cooperation not only allows them to bulldoze everything in their path, but also encourages the Avatar to stand up for themselves. In the end, they part with Sonic on friendly terms. By contrast, Infinite has the Awesome, but Impractical Phantom Ruby, which gives him a Superpower Lottery jackpot — but he and Eggman never directly help each other in their respective boss battles. Their hollow, mutually exploitative Villain Team-Up falls apart over time, to the point where their respective final encounters are recycled from previous battles and Eggman refuses to help Infinite when he fails for the last time. And when Classic Sonic joins the fray, Dr. Eggman is outnumbered 3-to-1…
• After all that Character Development in Adventure, Tails is scared of the weakest version of Chaos. Seems pathetic, right? Well, consider what's happened to him recently…

• He was excluded from three adventures in a row.
• He had to rely on his enemy to save the world from his friend's stupidity.
• The only reason he had any character development in the first place is because he was the only one available to save Station Square. Since then, the world has been saved by Sonic's teamwork with Blaze, Shadow, Silver, and Classic Sonic, but never him. No wonder he has no confidence, it's been a while since he actually did anything!
  • On top of all this, he witnessed Sonic seemingly die barely half a year ago, on top of Eggman's subsequent rise to power. Poor kid's mental health was likely in worse condition than Omega was.

• Joker’s outfit may seem like a weird choice for DLC until you realize that the outfit actually foreshadows the actual power of the Phantom Ruby: It attacks the target’s mind in order to trick their brain into thinking they suffered damage, therefore damaging them-similar to how Cognition works in that game.
• Knuckles' anti-war line get made fun of often, and some fans claim he would be the last person to express such a view, but in actuality it's consistent with his character. In the Sonic Comic he criticized his own people's belligerent actions, and Sonic Adventure established that their warmongering nature led to the downfall of various civilizations, including their own. If it wasn't for it, Knuckles wouldn't be the Last of His Kind now.
• At the end of the final battle with Eggman, his Death Egg Robot and the Phantom Ruby are destroyed. At the time Eggman's status is unclear, but he returns in the following game. While it is unsurprising that he survived or escaped the explosion (given his past history), how did he get out of null space, since the Phantom Ruby was destroyed and he would otherwise have to dash really fast to get out? Well, remember when Eggman outran Sonic?

Fridge Horror

• The repercussions of the Phantom Ruby in this game are huge.
  • Firstly, there's the fact that because the Phantom Ruby warps your reality, there's no guarantee that the heroes won. Considering Infinite withdrew from the battle, he could have easily picked up another Phantom Ruby and used it on the heroes, or even more terrifying, Eggman.
    • Infinite didn’t withdraw from the battle by choice. Eggman forced him, and likely took the Phantom Ruby out of Infinite's chest.
  • Also, who's to say there aren't more Phantom Rubies in Imperial Tower? And what happened to the one in the Death Egg Robot?
    • Sonic and the Custom Character destroyed the remaining prototypes. We watched them do it. as for the one in the DER, two words: Triple. Boost.
  • Also, what happens if you die to the Phantom Ruby? Do you die, or do you just think you're dead? And which is worse?
• Infinite is teleported away against his will after his defeat… then Eggman shows up in a mecha powered by the Phantom Ruby. As in, the thing that was embedded in Infinite's chest, and Infinite is explicitly shown destroying the last remaining Prototype other than the one DNA bonded and only usable by the Avatar. Unless Eggman had a hidden prototype no one knew about or actually used the real one (unlikely, given it doesn't need a power source as shown in Mania while the one in his mech explicitly does), things aren't looking good for Infinite…
  • Worse still, note that the heroes Triple Boost straight through the "heart" of Eggman's machine, even disabling the Phantom Ruby's power. Since Tails theorized that Classic Sonic would return to his world if the Phantom Ruby was destroyed, which he does, it's entirely likely that Infinite died along with the Phantom Ruby. This has been confirmed.
  • Eggman outright states and Tails makes a big deal that the Phantom Ruby within his heavily modified Death Egg Robot is the genuine article, likely powering the machine as a mobile source within it. More than likely, Eggman basically drew Infinite to the machine, where the Ruby presumably absorbed and subsequently killed Infinite since his form was breaking down like his illusions, and they were both sucked into the Death Egg Robot.
• Is Classic Sonic really the same Sonic from Sonic Mania? When he appears, Tails was calling out for Sonic. We know that the Phantom Ruby shows what the person wielding it truly wants. Tails thought he saw Sonic die, and we do know the Resistance considered Tails a lost cause. Also recall that when Classic Sonic first appears, he has that distortion that Infinite's clones had. Not to mention Classic Sonic fades away when the Phantom Ruby is destroyed. It's possible that Classic Sonic is from another dimension, but it's also quite possible that he is merely a Phantom Ruby clone.
  • It's worth mentioning the fact that the original script for Forces was written before the writers decided to connect it to Mania, which gives this theory slightly more relevance.
  • Tails would need to actually wield the Phantom Ruby for that to be possible. And why would Infinite give the resistance a soldier that’s somewhat on par with Modern Sonic? He’s not a Smug Snake to the point of that level of sheer idiocy. Let’s not forget that the Phantom Ruby also has reality warping powers, which is the most likely reason that Classic is here.
  • The original Japanese dialogue implies that Tails went missing or got separated from the Resistance after Sonic went down, not to mention they explicitly state that Sonic got knocked out and imply they don't know what happened to him. So the odds of Tails causing an insanity-induced miracle from something he doesn't have access to are likely pretty slim.
• Where exactly are the Chaos Emeralds during Eggman's reign? They aren't mentioned in the story at all, and with the Phantom Ruby, Eggman wouldn't even need them (as he himself implied in the second issue of the Comic-Book Adaptation), but even so, Sonic Mania shows that the Phantom Ruby's constructs, despite being illusions, are still powerful enough to hurt Super Sonic. It's entirely possible that even if the Resistance gathered the Emeralds, their trump card would fail and then Eggman would have double the omnipotence.
• It is only because Silver traveled back in time that the Avatar found the Phantom Ruby prototype and was able to defuse the artificial sun that Infinite would have dropped on the Resistance. That means that in the original timeline, Sonic, Tails, and all of their friends died that day. The bigger horror is that Classic Sonic was also present with the Resistance and would have died there too, which means the Mania dimension would have been left without a Sonic, allowing that world's Robotnik to take over as easily as Modern Eggman had.
• During Episode Shadow, Eggman can be heard saying that the "Defense Squad Jackal has already been completely annihilated", and Infinite accuses him of "destroying my squad". In one of the tie-in comics, they're shown to be Infinite's band of mercenaries, who happen to be fully organic Jackals. Their phrasing makes it seem as though Shadow just murdered Infinite's friends and colleagues off screen, which would give Infinite more justification to despise Shadow besides calling him weak.
  • Though there is the thought on whether Infinite actually cared about his team and just saw them as a means to an end.
• Imagine how Rouge felt when Shadow (seemingly) joined the enemy.
• In the Death Egg, it’s noted that the facilities were used to imprison members of the Resistance outside of just Sonic. And it’s also stated that it was occupied until recently, it’s only driven home by Silver making it clear this is something Eggman had to pay for. It’s pretty clear that Eggman took all of his prisoners and executed them.

Fridge Logic

• During the final battle, how do the good guys differentiate between the real Shadow (who is on their side) and the hundreds of fakes (who decidedly aren't)?
  • Infinite's clones are clearly seen glitching up as usual, and the real Shadow isn't. The clones also have incredibly small pupils, and the real Shadow is probably making sure people that see him fighting against the clone army.
  • Also, it's possible that Shadow has some sort of IFF tag to automatically highlight the real him to the Resistance.
• According to Infinite, canonically Sonic has been thwarting Eggman's schemes for "decades", and Eggman doesn't deny it. Therefore Sonic is canonically at least 20 years old, or perhaps even older.
  • Unless he said that in a figurative sense.
  • Sonic has been thwarting Eggman's schemes for decades, though… inasmuch as "since 1991" can be considered "decades".
• How exactly did Classic Sonic blow up the Death Egg?
  • Knuckles' dialogue implies that the Death Egg's core was being overworked and basically falling apart. The fact that Classic Sonic doesn't actually get to do anything showing this implies it was likely cut content or off-screened.
  • Considering the last part of the level is on a conveyor belt, it's possible that Classic Sonic used his speed to overload it and set off a chain reaction in the power grid.
  • Wouldn't be the first time (Classic) Sonic destroyed one of Eggman's machines by overclocking a glorified treadmill.