Jaws


 * You may also be looking for Jawz, a badnik from Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Jaws (known as Puku-puku in Japan) is a piranha-shaped submersible badnik from the original Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega Mega Drive and Game Gear. It appeared in the Labyrinth Zone and (in the Mega Drive version only) the third Act of the Scrap Brain Zone.

It resembles a purple fish with a propellor instead of a tail, and a powerful yellow jaw.

Archie Comics
The Archie Comics series featured Jaws as a character, although he was coloured more like the Chopper (another piranha-shaped badnik from the original Sonic the Hedgehog).

Early Battles
Jaws first appeared during one of Sonic the Hedgehog's fishing trips, where it ate Sonic's pole and the dock, forcing Sonic to investigate. He found a cave with an underwater Roboticizer, and was almost caught himself. Jaws lured Sonic into a trap, and tried to load Sonic into the robotcizer, when Sonic shredded the net, wasting his air. Jaws would have bitten Sonic had Rotor and Tails not arrived in their bathysphere, and torpedoed Jaws, creating air bubbles for Sonic, allowing to trash the roboticizer. Jaws fled, but his tail rotor was damaged, and he spent some time crashing into undersea stalagmites. He was repaired and returned to the cave where he had to guard an emerald, only to be distracted by another fight with Sonic and Tails. This fight ended when Jaws attacked a crude sketch of Sonic and Tails, crashing into the cave wall. As if that weren't embarrassing enough, Jaws knew that the real Sonic and Tails have five fingers, while the sketch gave them four. (OSM: #1, #2)

He was later seen working with Coconuts is an undersea bank heist, with predictable results. He later ruined Robotnik's impersonation of The Wizard of Oz and warned Robotnik about what would happen if the law learned that Robotnik had stolen some fan mail meant for Sonic-Grams. By then, Jaws was reduced to the role of a mere pet in a fishbowl, looking at photos of Sonic-fans like Amy Rose, while his job of guarding undersea roboticizers was replaced by Octobot. (StH: #16, #25, STT)

Later Fights
He was later seen on the Island of Misfit Badniks, unable to participate in the battle with Sonic, as he could not do much inside a fishbowl. He just watched as Sonic and Pseudo Sonic sunk the island. When the Badniks tried to enlarge Pseudo Sonic, and the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters interferes, Jaws joined the last wave of badniks led by Caterkiller in battle. He tried unsuccessfully to eat P. B. Jellyfish, as Pseudo Sonic woke up and knocked everyone away. Big Fluke smahed Pseudo Sonic and all badniks, Jaws included, into a cube, along with the island. (StH: #170, #185)

Abilities
Jaws has jaws poweful enough to tear through wood, and has great speeds underwater. Unsurprisingly, it is useless out of the water, requiring the use of a fishbowl to appear on land.

Etymology
Jaws' Japanese name, Puku-puku, is a Japanese onomatopoeia signifying a bubbling noise.