SONIC ORIGINS: 60 Years Ago [Cast Lineup]

I am very happy to reveal that I will be attempting to begin a comic soon, beginning with the story that I had developed back in 2012 which eventually gave birth to entire Sonic Expanse lore: Sonic Origins: 60 Years Ago. The story follows Professor Gerald Robotnik 10 years prior to the events of the Space Colony ARK as he leads an expedition with a team of young scientists to the newly discovered "Little Planet". The team end up finding a lot more than they had bargained for...

This character lineup shows off the main cast in 60 Years Ago; (from left to right) The Duke of Soleanna, Professor Pickle, Gerald Robotnik, Gazebo Boobowski, Wendy Witchcart, Dr. Fukurokov, Solaris, Illumina and Oliga.

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Gilbert of Soleanna
Age: 10
Height: 120cm
Canon Appearance: Sonic 06

Bio: Gilbert, also known by others as "The Little Duke" is a young Duke of the Kingdom of Soleanna. A child prodigy with a keen interest in the sciences and with responsibility beyond his years, Gilbert is set in place as the Guardian of the Gaia Temple of Soleanna. His entire royal family line are devout worshippers of the Sun God Solaris, however being a "man of science" Gilbert takes no interest in his family's ideals. However he is soon called by a spiritual voice emitting from the Flame of Hope, which beckons him to the Little Planet, and with great curiosity he takes his leave of his Guardian duties to investigate the matter. Thankfully, there just happened to be a shuttle with a spare spacesuit almost his size nearby the location of the planet.

Design: Very simple design, as the future father of Elise of Sonic 06, I carried a lot of her traits into his design (hair, skin and eye colour). Likewise I've taken her colour scheme and various Soleanna-esque traits into his clothing. I've focused making his clothing look rather regal yet very youthful at the same time, and an added mantle for an adventurous/mysterious look. Also worth noting that in the original story I had in mind that he was teen-aged, and his love interest was Illumina. This was changed obviously, haha.

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Gerson "Gherkin" Pickle
Age: 23
Height: 180cm
Canon Appearance: Sonic Unleashed

Bio: Major Gerson Pickle is a member of the G.U.N. Special Forces, AMS Division. In his youth, Gerson was a very athletic young man with a great love for running, and during his high school years he was a champion marathon runner and sprinter. His athletic nature is balanced out by his love for ancient literature and history which he inherited from his father who was a prized archeologist. However, due to a strained relationship with his father, he put aside his interest in science in order to pursue a military career path. After years serving in the force he has earned a nice break, but he is soon approached by Professor Gerald Robotnik, famed scientist and an old friend of his father, who offers him an opportunity which piques his interest.

Design: Also very simple to come up with, it was mostly a case of taking Professor Pickle's present elderly design and drawing him 60 years younger. I've given him a rather fit frame and a cocky attitude (intentionally making him a lot like Sonic; it's also worth noting that giving him an athletic trait was inspired by Melpontro's Pickle Unleashed, haha: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xweLnN…).

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Professor Gerald Robotnik
Age: 65
Height: 175cm
Canon Appearance: Sonic Adventure 2

Bio: Professor Gerald is a renowned scientist residing in the United Federations. Currently in direct commission from the government, Gerald is in the process of creating the very first space colony, codenamed "ARK". It is estimated that the building of the ARK will take up to 10 years, to which Gerald is willing to put full focus into it's creation. Soon he finds himself side-tracked with the discovery of the mysterious "Little Planet" which has appeared hovering over Never Lake in the Mobian Isles. Gerald puts the ARK progress on hold momentarily in order to pursue his interest in the planet. He enlists a team of three scientists to explore the Little Planet; Himself, Gerson Pickle, and his old friend Gazebo Boobowski.

Design: This design was rather fun to come up with, haha. Obviously I took Gerald's basic design (since in 10 years not much is going to change besides a bit of greying), but I've given him a new set of clothing fitting for an adventure based on that of Teddy Roosevelt (whom Eggman's original design was based on). Feature-wise I've made his eyes visible to show he's still untainted by mad science, as well as shortening his moustache and given it more colour to show he's maintained.

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Professor Gazebo "Booby" Boobowski
Age: 16
Height: 100cm
Canon Appearance: Sonic X-Treme (Cancelled)

Bio: Gazebo is a young Mobian Manx Cat from West Side Island. Coming from a line of ancient Ring Smiths, Gazebo is skilled in the art of creating advanced Power Rings which he uses as a viable power source for many forms of machinery. His field of science specializes in the use of supernatural energies and converting them into a useable, consumer-friendly means. As an old friend of Gerald's he accepts his offer to go on an expedition to the Little Planet, however he unfortunately had to cancel at the very last minute due to a prior engagement- to the surprise of Gerald and Gerson who thought Gazebo was already there with them.

Design: I actually didn't come up with this design, this is actually a design I commissioned CatbeeCache a few years back to design a younger design of Tiara Boobowski's father: Boo's Fundraiser- Gazebo. To this day I still really adore the design and didn't want to change it, my only addition was the colour scheme in this image, which I mostly based on Tiara's scheme. The idea of him "cancelling" his part in the expedition is a subtle reference to Sonic X-Treme's cancellation, haha.

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Wendaline Carter/"Wendy Witchcart"
Age: 21
Height: 170cm
Canon Appearance: Tails Skypatrol

Bio: Wendaline Carter, prefered by her identity, Wendy Witchcart, is a young woman of Shamaran descent. Formerly from Spagonia in her childhood she was a good friend Gerson Pickle as their fathers were close work colleagues. Eventually however her family had to return to Shamar due to her father's work, which prompted several years of loneliness after leaving behind her best friend. After so long, her mother teaches her their family line's secret art of witchcraft, and the abiity to use her powers to summon familiars to be her friends: Fockewulf, Bearenger and Carrotia. In the next several years of her life, Wendy becomes a ruthless bounty hunter, using her powers for evil and personal gain- however it's possible that she's being swayed by an unknown force. She eventually joins forces with the notorious mercenary, Cyclone the Owl.

Design: This is a design that I had already come up with a few years ago: The Deadly Duo - Cyclone and Wendy. While I've maintained the basic design of this old picture, I've tweaked a few bits here and there, particularly the lower half, giving her more witch-like pants and giving her different shoes. Facially I've adjusted her as well, carrying over subtle elements from her canon future design in order to suit the caricatured look I'm going for all the characters.

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Fanny Fukurokov/"Cyclone the Owl"
Age: 17
Height: 140cm
Canon Appearance: Tails Adventures

Bio: Fanny Fukurokov, prefered by his identity, Cyclone the Owl, is a Mobian Owl residing on Cocoa Island, currently serving under Grand Battle Kukku 14th as a weapons consult and military strategist. Cyclone is a skilled warrior, being considered the single greatest fighter in this era. Despite assisting the Battle Kukku Army, Cyclone actually is not of Kukku descent much to his chagrin. Unable to find a sense of belonging Cyclone seeks out his ancestry, soon discovering that he is in fact a descendant of the great Babylonian race. On Marble Zone after finding a hidden away Babylonian UFO wreckage site, he discovers a mysterious object known to the Babylonians as the "Angel Wing", it's mystical properties enchance his already keen fighting abilities making him an unstoppable force. Currently he's on leave from the Battle Kukku Army, and has teamed up with the bounty hunter, Wendy Witchcart. Soon the two are approached by a robed figure who has a very special request for the two of them.

Design: Like Wendy, this is a design I came up a few years ago at the same time as linked above. Not much has changed from his design apart from the the blue on his limb braces. After the seeing the first few characters together and how their colour schemes are rather warm and neutral, I wanted to maintain that with Fukurokov. So now the entire cast (bar Illumina and Oliga), they have an old-timey sepia toned colour scheme, haha!

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The Eternal Sun God - Solaris
Age: Eternal
Height: 200cm
Canon Appearance: Sonic 06

Bio: Solaris is the eternal Sun God, ruler of time and space, and current head over the Maginaryworld plane. Being the first in creation of the four Primordial Deities, Solaris is charged as the leader, overseeing all of reality in order to maintain order and peace in serving the Master Emerald. Over the course of history however many things have happened that has shaken the peace within Solaris, and after so long facing torment by the enemy he has lost his way. The only thing that has kept him in his place is his dearest sister and apprentice, Illumina. Soon an event occurs which shakes the astral plane and changes Solaris' life forever.

Design: Another design that I had already previously come up with and used: Sonic Origins - Bickering of the Gods. Information about the design can be read on that deviation, but to put it simply the humanoid design that I use to represent Solaris as a Primordial Deity is based on a series of statues that appear in the Dusty Desert level in Sonic 06.

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The Goddess of Dreams - Illumina
Age: Eternal
Height: 160cm
Canon Appearance: Sonic Shuffle

Bio: Illumina is the youngest of the Primordial Deities. She presides over the Maginaryworld along with her brother Solaris, and acts as his apprentice. She manages the dreams of all life in the universe, with thoughts and emotions being the core power of the Chaos Energy in the universal system. As the youngest of the gods she is often at times unsure of herself, but she looks up to her superior Solaris deeply and wishes to one day be as strong as him. For a while she has noticed the strain being the ruler has put on Solaris which concerns her greatly.

Design: As with the image linked above with Solaris, this is a design that I've already previously designed for Illumina and can be read about in the above deviation. Like Solaris, her design was based on a mysterious Angel statue which appears in Sonic CD.

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The Ifrit/Oliga the Naive
Age: Unknown
Height: 95cm
Canon Appearance: Sonic 06 (Technically)

Bio: Oliga has appeared within the Maginaryworld as an entirely anomalous entity. Having appeared from a temporal distortion, Oliga has come from an unknown plane of existence and with no recollection of who she is and how she got there, save for a few flashes of memory of a world engulfed in fire. With the appearance of Oliga within the Maginaryworld astral plane, her presence gives birth to the Chaotic Inferno Zone revealing that Oliga's true identity is that of The Ifrit. Her main goal is to remember who she is, but in the mean time agrees to become Illumina's handmaiden.

Design: Finally, Oliga's design is also one that I came up with a long time ago: Sonic Expanse - Oliga the Naiive. I've found that it's a lot quicker to come up with brand new designs than it is to re-draw designs that I've already established, as I've found taking so long drawing these last five characters, haha. Anyway, Oliga's design hasn't changed much except for the addition of her cape and tweaked the eyes to be basic green.

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Man, these descriptions always take so long to type, this took me a good two hours or so, haha! Anyways, I'm very glad to finally get these designs done after so long, I've been avoiding designing Gilbert, Gerson and Gerald for the longest time despite being the main characters. Now I can finally start on trying to do a comic series. As for the story, 60 Years Ago has always been the story that I've wanted to present the very first above all other stories in Sonic Expanse, as it is the storyline that began it all. It's the first story that I had come up with back in 2012 before deciding to make a full expanded Sonic Expanse universe, and despite merging together many aspects of the series' canon into one plot, it also adds a whole lot more because of the chemical mix! So please look forward to what's in store in the near future!