Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.22: Pseudo Sonic

(I apologize for the lack of updates the last week or so. The truth is, the current state of the world has completely fucked-up my ability to focus on my hobbies. I'm going to try and get myself back on track but delays could happen again. Sorry about that.)

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1.22: Pseudo Sonic
Original Air Date: September 10th, 1993

For whatever reason, people love to create robot copies of Sonic. I've pondered on this before. I suppose it's a somewhat inevitable idea, when Sonic's archenemy is a mad scientist who makes robots. The evil duplicate is a classic action story concept anyway. Yet the “Sonic” franchise – and, by extension, the fandom – is especially obsessed with the idea of “Evil Robot Sonic.” The series has Metal Sonic, several different characters named Mecha Sonic, multiple versions of Silver Sonic, Shard, and those are just the first ones that come to mind. That seems to be an excess of robot versions of the main character. A very early example of a robot Sonic is Pseudo-Sonic. He debuted in the eponymous episode of “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog,” a few weeks before the Japanese release of “Sonic CD” introduced Metal Sonic. (Though the original Silver Sonics predate them both.)

In “Pseudo Sonic,” Robotnik touches upon the villainous idea of creating a duplicate of Sonic and using it to discredit the hero's reputation. (Similar plots would play out in an early Archie Anti-Sonic story and “Sonic Adventure 2,” sort of.) He creates Pseudo Sonic, a reasonable robotic facsimile of the hedgehog. Though all of Robotnik's other robots have artificial intelligence, Pseudo Sonic needs to be piloted. He forces a rat named Lawrence to operate the machine. Soon, the machine goes about performing crimes, turning the public against Sonic. However, our heroic hedgehog soon discovers Lawrence is an okay guy. A field of poisonous flowers puts in an appearance, keeping Sonic and Lawrence from working together, forcing Tails to intervene.

From what I've seen of “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog,” it doesn't strike me as a typically plot heavy series. However, “Submerged Sonic” and “Pseudo Sonic” are both a little more story-driven than usual. While that was a weakness in the last episode, it actually works somewhat well here. Instead of just pranking Robotnik, like usual, there's an actual threat to Sonic here. To his heroic reputation, if not his life. While it might not make much sense for Pseudo Sonic to be piloted, Robotnik forcing an otherwise innocent person to do his bidding – by threatening his family, no less – makes this an episode with some actual dramatic meat on its bone. Lawrence immediately has our sympathy and we are invested in seeing Sonic help him. There's even something to be said for how a Sonic-tracking missile introduced in the episode's beginning comes back at the end.

Now, don't think that “Pseudo Sonic” lacks any of the dumb-ass comedy that was this show's trademark. Scratch and Grounder get plenty of pratfalls, whacking themselves with anvils or exploding bubblegum bombs in their faces. Sonic still saves the day by putting on an easily seen-through disguise and using the robot minions' idiocy against themselves. Not that Robotnik comes off much better, as Tails defeats him with a bucket of ice water. This episode also continues to show us how fucking weird this version of Mobius is. Aside from revealing yet more geometrical and surreal geography, we also get a good look how this society is made up of anthromorphic animals, cartoonish people, and less anthromoprhic animals. I wish the show creators had picked just one or the other.

Still, I did laugh a little more this time than in the last few episodes. Pseudo Sonic's crime wave ranges from acts of genuine brutality to petty mischief. He robs a museum and an armor truck. Which are reasonably bad-guy actions. He'll then explode an innocent citizen by replacing their light bulb with a grenade or lead an old lady into on-coming traffic, which is straight-up psychopath shit. Then the robot hedgehog will do something really minor, like literally stealing candy from a baby! (A news reporter even, amusingly, refers to the framed Sonic as “creating mischief.”) That variety of criminal activity, all contrasting together, is pretty funny. There's also a handful of decent one-liners here, from Grounder's naive request for popcorn or Robotnik referencing driver's licenses.

Though a pretty decent episode, as far as this show goes, “Pseudo Sonic” is rather notorious in the fandom for one reason. After Sonic and Lawrence stumbled into that field of poisonous flowers, both of their bodies swell up with hives. This was just a standard kid's show gag in 1993 but, in 2020, can't help but remind viewers of disturbing “inflation” fetish artwork. Sonic waddling around, as if he's suddenly gained a hundreds pound, somehow aroused a whole generation of growing furry perverts. It doesn't help that the episode repeatedly references Sonic and Lawrence's discomfort repeatedly, the two moaning and groaning at their itchiness or scratching themselves. Which is sort of unsettling. I'd chop all the fetish-y undercurrent up to coincidence if this episode didn't also feature a brief shot of Pseudo Sonic whacking someone's ass with a paddle. (There's also repeated shots of Tails' size shifting as he crawls in and out of the Pseudo Sonic body, which probably got some weirdo's rocks off.)

I don't know if “AoStH” wrote their episodes and then thought of a related “Sonic Says” message to conclude things with. Or if the writers decided on a moral and then worked backwards from there. Either way, “Pseudo Sonic's” edutainment section has Sonic warning kids about poison ivy, how they should avoid it, and what they should do if they come into contact with it. This isn't one of the “Sonic Sez” sequences that has become funny because of some values dissonance or a hammy delivery. Instead, the sight of Tails sensually massage an itchy Sonic amusingly raises a whole different set of implications.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that “Pseudo Sonic” was one of the few “Adventures” episode to be directly adapted by Archie's “Sonic” comic series. Except in the comics, Pseudo-Sonic – hyphenated for some reason – was as autonomous as the rest of Robotnik's robots. Aside from the titular robot and the presence of poison flowers, the two versions are pretty different. Still, it is interesting that Archie would utilize this particular evil Sonic robot before introducing Metal Sonic or any of his counterparts. As for the episode itself, it's actually probably my favorite “Adventures of Sonic” installment yet. [7/10]