Sally Acorn


 * For the squirrel character from the games known as Sally Acorn in Western localizations, see Ricky.

Sally Acorn (in some cases given the full title Princess Sally Alicia Acorn, and also known as Sal) is a fictional character and a protagonist from the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book and animated television series.

The character of Sally Acorn went through several appearance changes in the early comics. The final draft form of Sally is a female, anthropomorphic squirrel. Her actual in-comic proportions change readily with the artist in SatAM, but overall, she has small hands and feet. Sally has brown fur, which is tan on her face, chest and stomach, a long tuft of dark red bushy hair and blue eyes. She is usually seen sporting a denim blue open vest and knee-high blue boots. Sally's concept was originally yellow furred with blond hair wearing a red dress, then in SatAM's pilot and early Archie she had pink fur, brown hair and blue white-trimmed boots. In the Archie Comics she is one of Sonic's closest friends, his love interest, and possible future wife. Same thing in the SatAM cartoon series (except for the last part).

The creator of Sally's final design (used in later SatAM and the Archie based Sonic comic series) was Ken Kinoshita (the season 1 art director for SatAM). At that time, she had no vest. The designer of her initial 'Ricky' design from the games is supposedly Naoto Ōshima (aka 'Bigisland'), character designer for Sonic the Hedgehog.

History
Sally was born into the Royal Acorn monarchy and a middle name handed down from her mother, Sally is the heir to the throne as the future ruler of Mobius. Her attitude stems from childhood due to a strict upbringing of learning etiquette, royal studies, and the family credo. Two of which are the origins of the Chaos Emeralds and the hidden refuge known as Knothole Village. Becoming overwhelmed with these responsibilities left her isolated and sheltered from the outside. She befriends Sonic the Hedgehog arranged from a play date by Sonic's Uncle Chuck. Their friendship is a conflicting one, since Sonic antagonizes Sally due to her "slowness" while she tries to improve his mannerisms. (In SatAM, despite their constant bickering they do best as a team.) While escaping to Knothole, her mother is killed in the attempt while her father is imprisoned by Dr. Robotnik. She also is the surrogate aunt of Miles "Tails" Prower where she becomes overprotective of his safety. Most of the time she prides herself on her intellect and leadership skills. Whenever she feels stressed out, she consults Bunnie to balance her frustrations. Her tech skills enabled her to design a small device called NICOLE; a portable hand-held computer that dispenses versatile information such as geographical navigation and their origins.

When Dr. Robotnik ceases control over the chaos emeralds and captures Bunnie, she becomes more determined to achieve the goal of liberating the planet and claiming her place on the throne. Her loving devotion to her people and friends.

Ricky
Sally's origin lies with the generic squirrel animal friend sprite seen in the first Sonic the Hedgehog video game. Referred to as Ricky in the Japanese manual, this squirrel was one of the captive "natural battery" animals released by destroying badniks and Egg Capsules in the early games of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. When all the animal friends were renamed by Sega of America in their Sonic Bible, Ricky's gender was flipped and he was reimagined as "Sally Acorn". Usually sporting a pink bow to definitively highlight the gender swap, Sally made frequent appearances in early Western media for the franchise, including Stay Sonic, the promotional comic released alongside the first game, and early issues of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, among others. (See below for information about the Sally Acorn in Sonic the Comic.) While the various other animal friends were reinterpreted even more for Archie's series with yet more new names, "Sally Acorn" retained her name when she appeared in the series and cartoon.

Princess Acorn
In 1993, an article in Sonic the Comic announced two new television series starring Sonic the Hedgehog: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog. Within the four pages of plot synopsis and concept art, a group of screen shots that greatly differ from the rest appear without explanation. These screen shots include a character named "Princess Acorn", a Mobian (presumably a squirrel) with yellow fur and blond hair wearing a red dress. She shows up alongside characters that have since been featured in Sonic the Comic. This character shares little similarities in Sally's current appearance, but it was an early design of Sally.

Early Life
Sally is the daughter of King Maximillian and Queen Alicia Acorn. She has a long-lost older brother named Elias, whom she initially did not know existed. As a child, Sally was taken to Angel Island several times with her father, where she met and befriended Knuckles the Echidna, long before ever meeting Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sally's family ruled over Mobotropolis for several generations. Their dynasty ended shortly after the Great War, after which a treacherous Warlord named Ivo Robotnik-a defector who helped King Acorn win the war-staged a coup d'état and took over the kingdom. Becoming Supreme Emperor: Doctor Ivo Robotnik, the newly proclaimed dictator turned the city into a industrial wasteland. In addition, he used his roboticizers to transfigure the city's population into mindless robot slaves called Robians. The five-year-old Sally was hidden from Robotnik's grasp and sent to live in the protected Knothole Village hidden within the Great Forest.

Sally grew up to lead a band of ragtag rebel militiamen from Knothole starting at age 10, living alongside her friends, her governess Rosie, and the elderly Julayla (who Sally sees as her grandmother).

After living in Knothole for a short time, Princess Sally lost her mentor Julayla when she died. Immediately afterward, she was sent a "friend" in the form of NICOLE, a sentient compact super computer that originates from an alternative future where Sally is Queen. Feeling that her past self would seriously need a friend, Sally had Rotor design NICOLE and send her back in time.

Freedom Fighter
The ultimate goal of the Freedom Fighters was to oust the oppressive tyrant Dr. Robotnik and restore the Kingdom of Acorn. Hidden deep within the Great Forest in their rebel headquarters of Knothole, the Freedom Fighters carried out guerrilla attacks on Robotnik's operations. Seeing the Princess as a threat to his control, Robotnik made her capture a top priority. A scheme to replace Sally with a malevolent robotic double nearly worked, with a secondary plan of creating a whole line of robots based off of each of the Freedom Fighters lined up. The real Sally uncovered this plot, unmasked the fake Sally, and destroyed the rest of Robotnik's duplicates.

Robotnik later managed to infiltrate Knothole with a duplicate of Sally's father, King Max. The traitorous Freedom Fighter named Drago arranged for Sally's assassination, pinning the blame on Sonic in an elaborate turn of events. Robotnik then appeared unexpectedly in Knothole after the fake King Max leaked its location. After arriving at the Freedom Fighters' doorstep and holding them all hostage, Robotnik announced his plan to use the rebel headquarters as a testing ground for his super-weapon, with which he intends to eradicate all non-robotic life on the planet. His "Endgame" scheme is nevertheless foiled by the rebellion, and Robotnik is vaporized during the weapon's backfiring.

In the wake of Robotnik's defeat, Sally worked hard to re-establish the old kingdom. The desolate wasteland of Robotropolis was difficult to rebuild, and discrimination against Robians threatened to spark a civil war. A new Robotnik arrived from an alternate reality and quickly retook Mobotropolis. He was destroyed in battle, but through the transfer of his mind into a new real human body, he was able to live on as "Eggman Robotnik" by the reborn (by Eggman Robotnik's salvaging of his brain) Dr. Robotnik. For a time, Sally presided over the newly established Kingdom of Knothole, a haven from Eggman Robotnik until he too, like Ivo Robotnik, learned of its location.

Return to the Front Lines
After Robotnik was killed, Sally was put in charge of reconstruction of Mobotropolis. With Sally busy behind the scenes, other Freedom Fighters took on the role of field commander, with Sonic himself occasionally filling that role. With the return of her parents, Sally could not properly rule either. Sally became frustrated with a lack of control over her life, which culminated in an arranged marriage with Antoine. The wedding was quickly annulled when her groom turns out to be Patch, an evil version of Antoine from a parallel universe. After her brother Elias took the throne and her father fell ill, Sally returned to taking a more active role in overseeing the Freedom Fighters, even joining them in combat.

Sally agreed to be the maid of honor at Bunnie and Antoine's wedding, with Sonic serving as best man. Not long after the ceremony, Sally became Eggman's prisoner during the aerial bombardment of Knothole, but was promptly freed by a rescue mission mounted by the few who weren't taken prisoner: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and NICOLE. With Knothole completely crushed, Dr. Eggman turned his sights on New Mobotropolis. Sally once more led the charge against the enemy forces herself, resulting in the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix defeating Eggman's Egg Beater battle suit. Just prior to this, Sally asked Bunnie to make her hair the length and style as her original SatAM look, symbolizing that she was her old self again.(During that time, her hair was below-waist length.)

Not long after, she interrupted a duel between her brother Elias and Tails' father Amadeus Prower, both of whom were leading separate factions in a schism that threatened to plunge New Mobotropolis into civil war. Reminding them of her own ruling experience, she managed to bring the battle to an end and worked with them to establish a new system of government. Though the new ruling body called for seven council members-including Elias-Sally declined running, apparently quite fine with leaving politics behind for a while. Sadly, her relief at the averted crisis was short-lived, as Dimitri the Echidna arrived with horrifying news: Enerjak had returned.

Mogul, Destructix, and the Suppression Squad
After the Enerjak rampage and Mogul's escape, the latter then took over Robotnik's old Casino Night Zone and changed it to his own image. Meanwhile, Sally spent some time alone with Sonic in the ruins of Knothole talking about their past and feelings for one another. Their conversation was interrupted by Bean and Bark and the Destructix. Eventually, Sonic was knocked out by a shot from Nack the Weasel, who then gave Sally ten seconds to run for help while Sonic was dragged off by the Destructix. She soon liberated him with the help of Amy Rose and Geoffrey. When the heroes confront Mogul however, he denies all claims of wrongdoing as his accusers lack any incontrovertible evidence. Sally and her friends were then sent away publicly humiliated.

Sally and the other Freedom Fighters have been presented with a new problem, the Suppression Squad. The Freedom Fighters were thrown out of Freedom HQ by their Anti-selves. The Acorn Council voted to focus on the weakening Eggman Empire but Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters disobeyed and threw the Suppression Squad back to Moebius, locking Scourge in the No Zone.

New Enemies
After Eggman's defeat, New Mobotropolis seemed peaceful for a time. While attending Mina and her Forget Me Knots concert, Monkey Khan appeared and told everyone that a new enemy is nigh and Sonic and Monkey Khan head to Eggdome. When Sonic and MK returned, Sally was the first to learn that New Megaopolis was under new leadership, along with Espio's betrayal. Sally later led the Freedom Fighters to the Iron Queen and Snivley when they invaded New Mobotropolis, alone, but later called for backup from the Chaotix when Bunnie's cybernetics were being controlled by the Iron Queen's Magitek. Sally then watched in horror the Regina took control of Monkey Khan using the same Magitek. Once Sonic returned from taking Bunnie to Freedom HQ, she briefed him on the situation and warned him to hurt the controlled cyborg. She later served to stall Monkey Khan while Sonic got a Power Ring to break Monkey Khan from Regina's spell. She later became one of the many Mobians to witness the Iron Dominion take full control of New Mobotropolis (through the use of Iron NICOLE). Sally, along with Sonic, Ken, and Tails managed to escape the now over-run New Mobotropolis and flee to Freedom HQ, where she and Sonic were transported into the virtual world, where she managed to free NICOLE from Regina's control while Sonic kept the Iron Queen occupied. NICOLE would then serve as a spy for the Freedom Fighters. After saving NICOLE, Sonic, Sally, Tails, and Ken decided to go to the Dragon Kingdom and sever the Iron Dominion's ties with the other four clans.

Journey to the East
After arriving in the Dragon Kingdom, Sally was captured by the Gossamer Clan to ensure Sonic would meet with the Bride of Endless Reach along with Monkey Khan and Tails. Upon Sonic's arrival, they were freed, but Khan noticed Sally seemed out of it and held back for a few minutes to talk with her. Sally confessed to him that her actions lately had caused her severe stress and even had her questioning her own abilites, but Khan helped her get her mind on track by saying she was the only hope they had for victory right now. After this, negotiations began with the Bride of Endless Reach, and Sally introduced herself, and insisted Khan refer to himself as the King of the Free People, and they convinced her to rebel against the Iron Dominion for peace, and although she prediected it as a long and difficult journey, she agreed to this. Later on, they returned to the Temple of the Golden Lotus, and she conversed with Ken while eating with Li Yuen before a shuriken came through the window bearing a note, saying the Yagyu Clan wished to meet them.

After combating several Yagyu members who believed the four heroes were travelers, Sally and company traveled with one member to their headquarters the following day. Along the way, Sally questioned Ken if he thought that convincing the Yagyu would be easier or harder, as they had no proper bride and probably would not fall back on tradition or not want to give up the Iron Queen. Ken replied that he did not know, and that if they couldn't deal with the lord, then they would have to play it by ear. After a difficult meeting with the Yagyu Lord, Khan eventually negotiated a deal to let the Yagyu return to their old thieving ways in exchange for breaking away from the Iron Dominion. Knowing that the Yagyu would be less efficient without its clan system, the pair felt a measure of success, which came to an end as they found Sonic and Tails in company with Fiona Fox and the original Fearsome Foursome, minus Lightning Lynx.

As Sonic and Tails launched an attack, Sally ordered Monkey Khan to join in the fight as she herself got into the fray, but it quickly came to an end when Fiona announced she wanted to make a deal, explaining that their goal - getting the Raiju Clan to break from the Iron Dominion - could tie into their desire to get Lightning Lynx to return to them. However, as Sally and Sonic showed distrust, she tried to take advantage of Tails' lingering feelings for her and attempted to manipulate the young fox; Sally, disgusted by Fiona's actions, punched her in the gut and told her that if she wanted to deal, she should do it. Eventually the teams came to work together, with Sally and Fiona working together to disengage a door inside the Iron Fortress; Fiona likened the teamwork to her days as a Freedom Fighter, to which Sally replied that while Fiona had been on the team, she was never a Freedom Fighter. The two teams watched as Monkey Khan and the Bride of Conquering Storm agreed to a duel, which resulted in Sonic defeating Lightning, the latter being banished from his clan again. Having reached their goal, Sally and the others stepped outside, where Tails thanked Sally for stopping Fiona earlier. Sally said he was welcome, and explained that while she understood that Tails was growing up, she couldn't stand to see Fiona toying with him. She admitted however that the act made her feel brutish, and when the boys seemed pleased with the action, muttered that she was drowning in testosterone. As the group then contemplated the task of locating the Shinobi Clan, Espio-clan member and former member of the Chaotix-appeared offering his help.

Naturally, Sally and her teammates were immediately suspicious of Espio's motives. Though he assured them that his loyalty was to the Shinobi Clan and that he only served the Iron Dominion through "extenuating circumstances", Sally was still unwilling to trust him to guide them to the Bride of Constant Vigil. The Chameleon then decided to reveal information he had acquired about each of the four that he had kept secret, eliminating any sort of advantage he might have possessed. He proceeded to reveal knowledge of Sonic's alias "The Sneak", a comic series Tails had written as a child, and the location of Sally's royal birthmark-the latter of which caused her some embarrassment.

Returning to New Mobotropolis
Later, their mission in the Dragon Kingdom completed, Sally and her teammates returned to New Mobotropolis to confront the Iron Queen. They arrived just in time to aid Amy, Antoine, and Geoffrey St. John, and were aided in turn as NICOLE revealed her true colors by attempting to capture the Iron Queen. During the conflict she confronted Snively, telling him that she had given him chance after chance at redemption and was deeply disappointed at how he treated her generosity. For a moment, he felt he had the upper hand since the Iron Dominion had three more ninja clans to unleash, but Sally just showed a nasty smirk as Monkey Khan flew up to the sky and informed the Yagyu Clan their hold to the Iron Dominion had been severed. Once the Iron King had been dealt with and the rest of the Iron Dominion's forces had fled, Sally and the others rounded on the Iron Queen, informing her she was all alone now and that if she surrendered quietly no harm would come to her, something she'd discussed with Khan on the way back. But she refused and used the city's nanites to construct a mechanical dragon at her control. Sally rounded on NICOLE, hoping she could do something, but it was currently beyond the AI's power and could do nothing more than stop her from using any more of the city. Then the more powerful and resourceful Freedom Fighters in the city banded together to fight the dragon and Sonic issued the final blow, and Sally watched as the Iron Queen fell from it into Monkey Khan's magic cloud. After a quick report from NICOLE, Sally declared they had won the day before embracing Ken at their victory.

Sally and Khan later returned to the Dragon Kingdom to ensure that the Iron Queen was safely imprisoned, and talked over the trials that lay ahead for them both. Khan asked Sally if she would stay and become Queen of the Free People, but she turned him down, feeling a need to remain in New Mobotropolis and to explore her relationship with Sonic further. Returning home, she was welcomed by NICOLE and then Sonic, whose cryptic report to NICOLE left Sally wondering what had occurred in her absence. To Sonic's surprise, Sally invited him to tell her about it over lunch, and the two walked off arm-in-arm.

Sonic and Sally were later invited to become honorary members of the new Wolf Pack Nation, accepting the invitation of behalf of their entire team, as the others were unable to attend. They were surprised to learn that Lupe had stepped down as chief of her tribe, but things were cleared up after she announced herself as the Grand Chief of the Wolf Pack Nation. After catching up and learning that the Ancient Onyx, an artifact sacred to the Wolves and necessary for their initiation ceremony, was gone, Sally and Sonic were surprised by the appearance of Big the Cat. Their old ally explained that his people, the Felidae -- ancient rivals to the Wolves and with their own claim on the Ancient Onyx -- were in an uproar over the artifact's disappearance, and so he had decided to approach the Wolves about it. Thinking over the matter, Sally decided-along with Sonic-to help the Wolves recover the artifact and settle things with the Felidae. While Sonic and Big went to meet with the Cats, Sally traveled to the Mystic Ruins based on stories Knuckles had told her about his own encounters with the Felidae. After reflecting on the sad history of the culture, Sally was alarmed to find a Dark Egg Legion chapter operating in the area, and briefly engaged Grandmasters Drago Wolf and Razorklaw before surrendering to the far superior numbers of the Legion. Later, held prisoner by the two Grandmasters, she briefly contended with Drago before playing off his ego in hopes of gathering information on their plans. With this task accomplished, Sally found herself threatened with death, but fortunately Big and Sonic accompanied by the Wolves and Felidae arrived in time to save her. Carrying the Ancient Onyx, she used it to focus the attention of the two feuding groups, reminding them how they had overcome their differences to come together against their common foes. She then worked out a deal to keep the Ancient Onyx in the ruins in Felidae territory, where the Wolves would retrieve it when needed. Afterwards, she and Sonic were finally inducted into the Wolf Pack along with Big. Sally shared with Sonic her fears that the Onyx might somehow be a Chaos Emerald, but Sonic reminded her that only seven Emeralds now existed, and he couldn't sense the same power they possessed emanating from the Onyx.

Sally later had lunch with Amy Rose at Chuck's Chili Dogs and greeted Tails, Bunnie and Antoine back from their vacation before giving Sonic and Bunnie a mission to Sand Blast City.

Blast to the Past: GENESIS
After Sally's death by a machine gun aboard the newly rebuilt Death Egg in Issue 225, Eggman brought Mobius to a Prime state, not realizing he brought Sally back to life after performing the plan to kill her. Sally, along with her other trapped friends, were grateful for Sonic rescuing them, and they decided to follow Sonic. When out of the second zone they reached, Sonic questioned Sally's liking of Antoine. She got mad at him and only told him that they were really close friends. After reaching the Scrap Brain Zone, Sonic had a vision of the normal Mobius when Sally died. He decided to split the group which lead to Sally getting frustrated at Sonic's decision. After Sonic completely cleaned out the Zones, he and Tails regrouped with Sally, Rotor, and Antoine to fight Eggman. When it appeared that they had completely defeated Eggman, they celebrated, but Sonic didn't think it was over, because he would eventually return for revenge. Sally had a feeling that was true as well. When Eggman did return, Eggman trapped Sonic's friends, and he had to fight him alone. Eggman felt so successful, but after he warned that the electrical charge in the wires was of Chaos energy, Sonic went Super to defeat him once and for all. Once Sonic used Chaos Control, while trying to remember Shadow's name, Sally regained her memories and saw Super Sonic write "Hi Sal" on a window through time.

Sally's Sacrifice
Sonic was sent back 10 seconds and was able to save Sally while also destroying the gun machine. Eggman tried to turn Mobius into a primed state, but it wouldn't work, and so, Sonic and Sally finally caught up in Issue 230. Unfortunately, while Sonic was fighting Silver Sonic and Metal Sonic 3.0, Sally was using NICOLE to try and override the Prime machine. According to NICOLE, it was risky since the only thing it would affect would be Sally if they were to go through with it. Sally went through her memories of her and Sonic, and told NICOLE it was something she had to do. NICOLE went through with the procedure and had the option of terminating Sally, while saying good-bye to her as well. Sonic thought he was victorious as always when he defeated the Metal Sonics with the help of the explosion, but the success of Eggman, and horror of Sonic, was the Robotization of Sally. She then seized Sonic by the throat, with Sonic pleading with Sally to fight Eggman's control, begging her not to make him fight her. Eggman, delighted about this turn of events, stated that while it would be sensible to order her to march the two of them into an incinerator, he wanted to enjoy this and had Mecha Sally throw Sonic out of a waste disposal hatch. She then accompanied Eggman (who commented about finding a better name for her than 'Mecha Sally') to the bridge of the Death Egg where they were met by Snively. When Snively objected to Eggman's order to launch an assault on New Mobotropolis, stating that the Death Egg was too heavily damaged, Eggman had Mecha Sally grab him by the collar of his uniform and demand that he follow her master's commands. At the end of both #232 and #233 of the series you see Eggman weaponizing Mecha Sally for his next phase of his plans, Then she finally shows up in #234 of that very issue. With her new powers installed she destroyed the tornado and moments later knocks down the "Normal" Bunnie Rabbot afterwards. After that she began trying to dismember her boyfriend while Sonic was telling her to fight the doctors control. Eggman has used Sally on numerous occasions as not just a physical weapon, but also an emotional one. He not only uses her against Sonic, but also against Monkey Khan and Lupe.

A New Lease on Life
Sally, now flesh and blood again was seen evading capture on the Death Egg.

Color Scheme and Appearance
In Archie Sonic the Hedgehog (miniseries) Issue 0 she had orange fur and blonde hair. This color scheme did not last long at all. By the next issue she had black hair and pink fur. This is the same color scheme Sally fashioned in the SatAM pilot and Sonic Christmas Blast special. The first season of SatAM, Sally's color scheme permanently changed to brown fur and red hair. After Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 16 She changed to the cartoon series color scheme and no longer wore a headband.

In season 2 of SatAM Sally wore a blue vest. The origin of this vest was revealed in Archie Sonic: In Your Face! Issue 1. Sally's appearance stayed the same until Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 130 where her hair is grown out very long. She eventually cuts her hair back down to its traditional standard length.

In an early issue of the comic, Sonic teases Sally about her hair color changing from blond to black, Sally was not amused. It is later in Archie Knuckles the Echidna Issue 29 where Sally reveals that on a mission in Robotropolis, she fell off a walkway while under laser fire and fell into a chemical vat that fortunately only discolored her fur, making it orange and her hair blond. After bathing, Sally's fur came out pink and her hair black. Sally was still very upset by this and it took weeks of bathing before the chemicals were completely washed out and she was back to her natural color scheme.

SatAM


This Sally is a ground squirrel and cast in the role of princess similar to the Archie version. She was originally introduced with a pink fur design. Her father, exiled to the Void, is referred to simply as the King; no first name is given (the title 'Acorn' is not referred to either, though is used in the show's bible). Nothing is mentioned about her mother or any potential siblings. She is a Freedom Fighter, usually working as a strategist and de facto leader (though she often credits this to Sonic). Rosie, who had been Sally's nanny as a child, had been rescued from the fate of Roboticization in the second season story "Blast to the Past". Sally is voiced by Kath Soucie.

Sonic the Comic
A Sally based on her initial game sprite design appeared in early issues of the UK based Sonic the Comic. Unlike Porker Lewis and Johnny Lightfoot who were also based on the 'small animal' characters (and their depictions in Stay Sonic) this Sally did not become a Freedom Fighter and faded into obscurity along with the other forgotten civilians of the games.

Personality
Sally is strong-minded, and is very opinionated. Sally is sometimes known to be kind but headstrong and has a tendency to put too much pressure on herself to react in the most wise way. She is a leader of the Freedom Fighters, second only to, or on level with, Sonic himself. With her father banished to the Zone of Silence, Sally is second in line to take the throne, currently held by new King Elias Acorn, her older brother. She can be very caring as well, in many cases Sally goes out of her way to make sure her friends are safe and happy. She can be somewhat insecure at times when Sonic is not around, and is possibly emotionally dependent on him. Even so, as princess of Mobius, she is a firm leader with a strong sense of justice and a warm heart.

Sometimes Sally is referred to as a "Tomboy Princess" since she does not typically dress regally or act as a damsel as many princesses do, but rather acts as a fighter rather than a typical princess.

Sally is practical, being destined to rule whether or not she likes it. She has some technical training, being the third-most technical member of the Freedom Fighters (behind Rotor and Tails), and due to her martial art skills she proves to be one of the most formidable Freedom Fighters in battle when the situation calls for it.

Her primary love interest in most media is Sonic, and NICOLE is her longest-known companion in most media depicting her.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Over the years Sally has had numerous flirtations and love-interests, the largest being Sonic the Hedgehog. During their battles against Dr. Ivo Robotnik as Freedom Fighters, the two hid their feelings for each other, though the idea of marriage had come up on occasion, mostly as a joke. Additionally, because of their clashing personalities, both were reluctant to make anything more out of their relationship. Their mutual feelings for each other became far more obvious when Sonic discovered Sally had survived Operation: EndGame and the two kissed romantically.

When King Max discussed the topic of marriage with his daughter shortly after he'd been freed from the wizard Ixis Naugus's control, Sally requested that Sonic should be her future husband. The aged king furiously refused this offer, saying that the Source of All would ultimately decide who her husband would be, as it had dictated Max's wife and his father's wife before him.

Sonic and Sally spent the next few months apart, while Sonic was chasing after the Ixis Naugus around the planet with Tails. Shortly after his return, Dr. Eggman began his campaign to retake Mobotropolis and roboticize the Mobians, which prevented Sonic and Sally from getting close. To make matters worse, after the Kingdom of Knothole was formed, Sally was forced to be home schooled while Sonic and the others went to public school. Sally's duties as princess kept her both busy and distant from Sonic for some time. When Sally finally attempted to visit Sonic, she caught him being kissed by Mina Mongoose. After this, Sally believed Sonic had moved on. The two later recovered and fully admitted their love for one another when Sonic freed Sally from the bounty hunter Nack the Weasel.

After almost a year had passed since Max's original decision to force Sally to marry Antoine, his opinion had drastically changed, after Sonic had proven himself a worthy candidate for a spouse. Max accepted Sonic and Sally's request for marriage, but shortly after this, the Xorda's attack on Mobius occurred, which resulted in Sonic being lost in space for more than a year.

Upon Sonic's return from space, the two wasted no time rekindling their love for one another. However, their relationship took a turn for the worse when Sally was put in charge of the kingdom and requested Sonic stay by her

side, as opposed to risking his life on numerous combat missions. Sonic chose the life of a hero, and this resulted in Sonic getting a slap across the face and an end to their relationship. Since then, Sonic has dated Fiona Fox, but the two broke up when Sonic discovered Fiona actually was interested in his evil double, Scourge the Hedgehog. Recently, after Antoine and Bunnie announced they were getting married, Sally admitted she missed Sonic and felt jealous that it wasn't her who was getting married.

Since Antoine and Bunnie's marriage, Sonic and Sally have once again showed signs of interest in one another. Sally in particular has flirted and hinted at this with Sonic. At one point, the two almost kissed each other, but were interrupted by Bean, Bark, and the Destructix. Immediately prior to Dr. Eggman's final defeat and push into insanity, Sally shows intense concern for Sonic's personal safety, along with her hugging him before Sonic dove into the hole leading to Eggman, telling him to be careful.

After Monkey Khan showed up, Sally decided to fully rekindle her friendship with Sonic, and start a romance with Ken. It has been hard for Sonic to get used to the change, though unbeknownst to him Sally came to feel that she had ended their romance badly and thus been unfair to him. However, Sally informed him after returning from the Dragon Kingdom that she wasn't ready to become seriously involved with Khan yet, and then took Sonic out to lunch. Since then Sally and Sonic have remained close friends like they always have been, leaving their romantic relationship a little undefined.

Later, with the events going on such as Geoffrey St. John betraying Sonic and Mina's song driving the citizens to believe NICOLE is evil, Sonic decides to take Sally on a date to a fancy restaurant. Things seem to go fine until one of the waiters ask them if they plan on "pulling the plug on NICOLE." Another person argues saying that NICOLE is a freedom fighter as well. This gets out of so much that Sonic and Sally decide to leave. The crowd tries to stop them from leaving, only to have Amy threaten them with her hammer demanding them to leave Sonic and Sally alone so that they can enjoy their date. Later, Sonic and Sally go to the Lake of Rings surrounded by fireflies and Chao. They tease one another by fighting over who was more jealous of each other's previous relationships. The night ends with Sally asking Sonic if he could slow down a bit so she could be by his side, to which he accepts. They are together but ever since she's been roboticized he hasn't been able to get through to her.

Antoine D'Coolette
Early in the series, Antoine very openly declared his love to Sally on a regular basis, but the feeling was never mutual. Antoine always considered Sonic to be his rival for Sally's affection. After Sonic got into a fight with Geoffrey St. John, Antoine stepped in and rescued the Hedgehog who had ridiculed him for so many years. This act of heroism won Antoine the heart of Bunnie Rabbot and from there on he no longer had interest in Sally.

Years later, King Maximillian Acorn was in bad health and commanded Sally to marry Antoine, so he could help her rule the kingdom. Sally was not happy about this arrangement, but went through with it out of obligation towards her nation. It turned out Antoine was actually Patch D'Coolette in disguise, and he had set it all up, and was poisoning the king to try and get himself into power. After Patch was defeated and the real Antoine was found, he went back to Bunnie and Sally was once again single.

Griff
In the Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series), a goat named Griff welcomed Sonic, Sally and Antoine to his home in Lower Mobius. While they were there, Griff attempted to court Sally, which inflamed both Sonic and Antoine in jealousy. Sally was pleased with Griff's attention and went along with him, partly to make Sonic even more jealous. However Griff was actually just trying to charm Sally into showing him where Knothole is so he could steal their Power Rock.

Geoffrey St. John
When Geoffrey St. John first met Princess Sally, he assisted her in training the Substitute Freedom Fighters and foiling Dr. Robotnik's scheme of creating robo-duplicates of the Freedom Fighters. After seeing St. John's heroics, the skunk gained a place in Sally's heart, nearly rivaling Sonic. After the events of Project: Endgame and Sonic's revival of Sally, St. John realized her heart belonged to Sonic, but continued to clash with Sonic on numerous occasions. Some time later, Geoffrey St. John established a relationship with Hershey the Cat, eventually marrying her and seemingly losing his feelings for Sally. In Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 222 Geoffrey spies on Sonic and Sally on a date and envies Sonic for getting to be with her. In the next issue Geoffrey reveals to Sally that his wife, Hershey is (possibly) dead and he once again refers to Sally as "luv", his old pet name for her, indicating that his feelings for her have returned.

Knuckles the Echidna
Sally had known Knuckles even before she met Sonic, during her father's regular visits to Angel Island. The two quickly became friends as neither one had anyone else their age to play with. Years later, when Knuckles came to Knothole to fight against Mecha Sonic, the two reminisced about their childhood days. Sally even showed signs of interest in Knuckles at this point, especially due to the anger she felt towards Sonic, who everyone thought had deliberately allowed himself to be roboticized. Not long after this however, Knuckles was pursued by the fellow Echidna Julie-Su, who is currently Knuckles' girlfriend and soul mate. Sally and Knuckles' friendship was temporarily damaged when the latter decided to remain on Angel Island rather than assist the Freedom Fighters on Mobius against Dr. Eggman, though the two repaired their friendship over time.

Monkey Khan
Some time after her break up with Sonic, Sally began to show romantic interest in Monkey Khan. Feelings seemed to be reciprocated and they quickly became a couple. Though the two seemed very happy together, Sally felt a little funny because she knew she was still fighting feelings she had for Sonic. After the defeat of the Iron Dominion, Monkey Khan told Sally that he could use a "Queen of the Free People", implying that he wanted Sally to be his queen. However Sally rejected the offer, just in case there was a chance that she could patch things up with Sonic.

Relations

 * Former King Maximillian Acorn (father)
 * Queen Alicia Acorn (mother)
 * King Elias Acorn (brother)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (husband in possible future) (current boyfriend)
 * Sonia Acorn (daughter in a possible future)
 * Manik Acorn (son in a possible future)

Trivia

 * In the English-language manual of Sonic CD for the Sega CD, Amy Rose is credited as Princess Sally, in an attempt to support the SatAM TV series (though the PC version and all later games called her Amy).
 * Sally's middle name is Alicia, which is also her mother Queen Alicia's first name. This is also the name of her anti self.
 * In Japan, Sally was known by both her real name and a nickname of hers called "Ricki". This never made its way to America.
 * She appeared in Sonic Christmas Blast, although she had pink fur instead of brown. However, she did not speak.
 * Tiara of Sonic X-treme shares a similar appearance with Sally. Christian Senn claims that he did not intend for Tiara to look similar when he designed her.
 * As she was a main character in the comics, she was first officially introduced to the Japanese Sonic audience when Sonic Mega Collection was released.
 * Sally was originally supposed to die during the "Endgame" saga. But Archie editor Justin Gabrie rejected the idea and made writer Ken Penders change the storyline, so that she was in a coma instead.
 * In the first SatAM episode, Sonic Christmas Blast, and the early Archie comics Sally had pink fur, as mentioned above, but it was later stated in the Archie comics that it was because of a reaction when she fell in a vat of chemicals during a mission against the original Robotnik.
 * According to a remark made by Espio and Sally's reaction to it, her royal family birthmark is in a very embarrassing place.
 * Sally appears as a main character in Sonic Live in Sydney.
 * In issue 40 of the comics, it is shown that Sally's middle name is Elisha, when later it's said to be Alicia. The reason for this is unknown. Sally_Acorn_3D_2.png
 * A scrapped cartoon was planned before SatAM with a girl in an image with Sonic. In another, she was called Princess Acorn though she didn't look like Sally or a squirrel at all.
 * However, a picture of Sonic with what appears to be a lion could be what this version of Princess Sally could have looked like.
 * In the Genesis saga of the Archie comics, Sally was shown to be able to speak Flicky fluently.
 * Sally's color scheme has been changed 3 times, total.