Sonic Legacy is a webcomic by the fan artist collective, Sonic Paradox, who're known for the Sonic Shorts animations. The comic was announced during their fourth Sonic Seconds video which included a trailer
at the end for it. The first issue was released in September 2018.
The story is set in 1991 on Planet Mobius, and follows Sonic enjoying his runs as usual when he stops by South Island for a snack. There, he meets a dolphin girl named Tempest, who steals his wallet and challenges him to a race. However, the race is brought to a halt when the duo notice a fleet of ships passing over, dispersing capsules and malicious robots. They soon come across a girl named Omelette, who's capturing animals for her "Papa" and, after a confrontation, kickstarts an adventure that'll put Sonic and Tempest's skills to the test. And from the looks of things this is only the beginning of a long-standing conflict...
The comic can be found here.
Has the following tropes.
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Moments after an action-packed escape from the Marble Zone and a horde of Badniks in issue #2, Sonic and Tempest rest for a bit so Sonic can get an arm injury patched up and the two can eat; they discuss Tempest's chef aspirations and Sonic's nomadic nature before getting back to business.
- A Light in the Distance: Issue's 3 and 5 show a disembodied green light guiding Sonic towards his current goal.
- Alternate Universe Fic: This fan comic continuity serves as a complete reboot to the franchise, offering a new take on Sonic's adventures.
- Action Girl: Tempest is one, naturally.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: The Eggrobos, Badniks that first appeared towards the end of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, appear on issue #4 of the Prelude, which is the Scrap Brain zone of Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Adapted Out: The Prelude (issues #1-#5) adapt the very first Sonic game, but Spring Yard and Starlight zones do not appear. The "Off Panel" joke on issue #4 has Eggman lampshade it.
- Apocalypse How: Issue 10 reveals a Class 5 in the form of Eggman's ultimate goal, which is to erase all life on Mobius so he can rebuild the planet into a utopia.
- Art Shift: Issue 10, "Hard Reset", transforms itself into a stunning adaption of Preboot-Archie era art direction. This may've been done to coincide with the tone shift in said issue, as the comic is back to more cartoony artstyle by Issue 12.
- Audio Play: Legacy Uncut is an animatic/audio-based series detailing side stories within the greater context of the universe. It can be listened to at their YouTube Channel.
- A Way Out of a Cave-In: In issue 3, Off The Deep End, Sonic and Tempest are stuck in the Labyrinth Zone, only finding a way out once they combine efforts.
- Bittersweet Ending: The first arc ends with Sonic beating Eggman's bot and saving Tempest. But Eggman and Omelette get away with the doctor having all the Chaos Emeralds to boot and plotting the next stage of his plan while Sonic leaves Tempest behind so as not to endanger her further. Needless to say, this is only the beginning of things.
- Brick Joke:
- The "Off Panel" joke in the first issue has the Chili Dog Vendor still waiting on the beach for Sonic to return to claim the chili dog he was going to buy.
- In issue five, another Off Panel has Sonic remember Tempest still has his wallet that she nicked off him in the first issue. She claims she'll use his credit card to cover her hospital bills.
- Call-Forward:
- In Issue 5, Sonic comes across a mysterious figure in the labyrinth area of Scrap Brain Zone who shows him images of things that'll happen in the future up to and including: Sonic 2, Sonic Battle, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Generations, Sonic Chronicles, Sonic Lost World and Sonic Forces.
- The end of Mobius Legacy #1 shows the duke of Soleanna preparing the Solaris Project, leading up to the events of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
- Campfire Character Exploration: Halfway through issue 2. Sonic and Tempest discuss why they're away from home in the first place.
- The Cameo: Old Man Owl from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie shows up to start the race between Sonic and Tempest.
- Cliffhanger: The first issue ends with Sonic and Tempest falling into a crevasse caused by their fight with Omelette.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: In the third issue, Sonic and Tempest end up having to go through the Labyrinth Zone and nearly drown due to having swin through the underground area and being chased by a Badnik. After managing to get through, Sonic tries to use this to revive Tempest, though the mouth to mouth part doesn't come to be due to Tempest spraying water out through her blowhole.
- Creator Cameo: Most of the staff that worked on the first issue are in the crowd at the beach, depicted as their in-universe avatars.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: For most of Issue 10, Sonic has the upper hand during combat... only to get utterly outclassed by the up-armored Death Egg Robot when they finally go head to head.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Omelette definitely showcases this, wanting to make her "papa" proud.
- Dramatic Irony: After learning that Eggman was responsible for the attack on Mobotropolis, Clove declares she’d never work for Eggman in response to Sonic’s suspicions about her. Anybody who’s read the post-reboot Archie comics knows that the chances of her breaking that promise are very high, though it remains to be seen if Legacy will go in the same direction.
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Fan Translation: On their official website, the comic is translated into Korean and German. - Foreshadowing: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Mobius Legacy #1 has Dr. Robotnik bring up Geralds Journal, an obscure but important lore piece centering around Project Shadow and the discovery of the Gizoid.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: The setting showcases that both humans and anthropomorphic animals are living side by side together on the planet.
- Load-Bearing Boss: In Issue 5, after Sonic beats the Alep robot, it sets off a bomb and causes a cave-in which Sonic is barely able to escape with Tempest, guided by the mysterious figure leading him out. This apparently takes out the whole of Scrap Brain as well according to a newspaper article.
- Mythology Gag:
- The cover of Issue 6 shows Sonic and Tails riding in a mine cart over a pool of lava. This is a reference to the Episode Title Card of Under Ground Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit). Both the game and Issue 6 also introduce Tails.
- Likewise from the same issue, the bullies who gave Tails grief over his nickname are the Witchcarters from Tails' Skypatrol.
- Issue 1 of Mobius Legacy shows a picture of Dr. Robotnik's lair hanging in the office of, well, Dr. Robotnik.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Sonic and Tempest trick Omelette into breaking the egg capsule when she swings her wrecking ball at them, freeing the animals within.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: In the fifth issue, Eggman puts Tempest in his latest bot, the G-01 aka the Alep as a battery source in order to fight Sonic. Thankfully he manages to get her out of there unharmed.
- Eleven years prior in Mobius Legacy #1, he tried to do something similar, using a life-extension machine with a young Nicole, but his motives were altruistic back then, if horribly misguided.
- Precision F-Strike: The harshest swear word the comic has allowed itself so far is "dammit", and it's only been uttered by characters once or twice in moments of great distress.
- Related in the Adaptation: Implied to be the case with the Witchcarters, as Carrotia refers to Fockewulf and Bearenger as her "brothers" once, assuming she isn't being figurative or one or more of the "siblings" isn't adopted.
- Robotic Reveal: On issue #5, Omelette causally talks on a phone she pulled out of her chest and Eggman just as casually mentions that Omelette isn't really his biological daughter, but a very human-looking robot.
- Start of Darkness: Issue #1 of Mobius Legacy focuses on Dr. Robotnik's life before his transformation into Dr. Eggman.
- Story Arc: Currently, Sonic Legacy is gathered in chunks of named arcs, with the chapter number in the upper right corner of the cover, with individual episode names inside the comic itself.
- Legacy's Prelude: #1-5
- Escalation: #6-10
- Ultimate Universe: Being a fan project, it puts in bits from a variety of Sonic media up to and including the main Sonic game series, Sonic comics (U.S and U.K), TV shows, animes and some well-known fan creations as well such as Omlette.
- Undressing the Unconscious: In Issue 12, after the unconscious Sonic is pulled out of the water by Clove, he wakes up in a camp she set up, with his gloves, socks and sneakers drying by the fire. He never wore anything more than that, so he doesn't even react to it, but the comic notably shies away from showing his bare feet.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: What Eggman's ultimate scheme turns out to be.
- Webcomic Time: The comic has been going on for years since 2018, but in-universe, a few days at best had passed since Issue 1.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Sonic naturally has a fear of water, so when Tempest and he end up in the Labyrinth Zone in the third issue, he's not thrilled that swimming is involved.
- World-Wrecking Wave: Issue 10. Eggman plans to destroy all life on Mobius with his Eraser Cannon before rebuilding his envisioned utopia.
