Sonic the Werehog (Archie)


 * For the transformation seen in the In Another Time, In Another Place Zone, see Werehog (In Another Time, In Another Place).

Sonic the Werehog is a transformation that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. A transformation of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Werehog is a mutated and more aggressive form of Sonic which has gone through a total cellular re-write caused by Dark Gaia's essence which Sonic had inhaled days prior to the first transformation.

Appearance
In this form, Sonic resembles closely that of a werewolf. He grows slightly larger, with his torso becoming broader, his hands getting larger, and his arms growing thick, out of proportion, and muscular. Additionally, he grows sharp nail-like claws on his fingers, his teeth become fangs, and his muzzle becomes noticeably longer. His skin also turns light blue, and he gains lush and heavy gray/dark blue fur that also grows out in places where he did not have it earlier, such as on his arms and chest. Traits of white fur also appear on his wrists, the end of his quills and on his chest. Likewise, his ears become more curved.

For attire, Sonic loses his white gloves, exposing his hands, and his socks becomes slightly frilled in the back. The white stripe on his shoes is replaced with grey metal that has three spikes on the surface, and his soles are now covered with small metal spikes.

Early Signs
During their journey to find the New Freedom Fighters, Sonic and Tails came to the Wood Zone to search for Antoine D'Coolette, who was helping Professor Charles with his research on the mysterious global earthquakes. There, Charles had collected samples of Dark Gaia's essence leaking from the earth when another earthquake occurred, and Charles and his assistant Muttski fell into a crack in the ground. While Tails and Antoine saved Charles and Muttski, Sonic rescued Charles' samples, but upon getting back up, a rock debris from the fault line destroyed one of the containers, releasing the dark gas that nearly suffocated Sonic. There, Sonic briefly had a feral moment, but he immediately claimed he was fine, despite Charles' concerns.

In the first hours of the Shattered World Crisis, when the New Freedom Fighters tried to save Station Square civilians from the shattering planet, Sonic had another "feral" moment when the stress of the situation briefly got to him. Another moment briefly occurred when Sonic fought E-106 Eta onboard the Egg Train, but he managed to suppress it with Amy Rose's interfence. Despite insistence from Charles to beware of the gas' mutagenic properties, Sonic replied he would be fine.

During the Meropis invasion of Dark Gaia Creatures, Sonic and Rotor's Air Charms that let them breath underwater began to run out as they fought the Dark Guardian. The heroes attempted to reach to the surface, but the Dark Guardian pulled them back in and nearly drowned them, with the resulting stress causing Sonic to go into a near-complete transformation into the Werehog. However, before transforming fully, the Dark Guardian threw Rotor at the hedgehog, ceasing the transformation.

The First Night
While at the Rocky Jungle Zone to retrieve a Chaos Emerald from the Soumerca Egg Army, Sonic, Amy, and Sally Acorn met Mighty, Ray and Moss the Sloth, the latter who sensed a touch of darkness inside Sonic, but Sonic dismissed everyone's concerns and prioritized the world's saving. Later, Sonic, Amy, Sally, Mighty, and Ray snuck inside the Soumerca Egg Army dig site to get the Chaos Emerald, but Thunderbolt caught the heroes in a trap and electrocute them. As everyone was calling for his help, Sonic's stress over seeing his friends hurt made him lose all composure and he completely transformed into Sonic the Werehog. In this new form, Sonic quickly took out the trap and plowed through the Egg Army forces before destroying Thunderbolt's armor. In rage, Sonic cased after Thunderbolt until she retaliated with an electrical surge which Sonic tried to protect the native jungle animals from. As Thunderbolt began to gloat however, Sonic grabbed her and prepared to finish her off, but Mighty knocked him down which made him release Thunderbolt who escaped. While Sonic is furious, Mighty tried to calm him down, but because of the Dark Gaia energy inside him twisting his mind, Sonic saw only distorted version of Mighty taunting him, provoking Sonic to fight him. During their fight however, Sally and Amy intervened, reminding him of his past deeds and all the people he inspired with his courage, will and selflessness. Thanks to their encouragement, Sonic's mind clears and he stands down in horror of what he had done and how close he was to killing his friends. Sonic the Werehog was then bought back to Moss's home to recuperate where he apologized to his friends until the daylight made him revert back to normal. However the experience made Sonic resolve to stay at Moss until he could control his Werehog form.

Powers and abilities
As Sonic the Werehog, Sonic possesses greatly increased physical strength, high enough to punch clean through metal and destroy Thunderbolt's robotic suit with a single punch. He is also capable of stretching his arms long distances, though the maximum length of how far he can stretch his arms are unknown.

Trivia

 * Sonic the Werehog originally appeared in the video game Sonic Unleashed.
 * In the Archie Comics, this form has also previously appeared in the Another Time, Another Place stories and a few Off Panel strips.
 * Sonic the Werehog is based on the famous mythical creature the Werewolf.
 * The term "Werehog" is derived from the words "werewolf" and "hedgehog." However, this is a misnomer. The word "Were", as used in the term "Werewolf", derives from the Old English "wer" which is a Latin word meaning "man", making the term literally "Man-wolf", a man who became a wolf. Literally, this means the term "Werehog" means "Man-hog" which is an incorrect reference to Sonic being a man that becomes a hog.
 * The conditions needed for Sonic to transform into Sonic the Werehog differ between the comics and the Sonic Unleashed video game. In the game, Sonic's transformation is triggered whenever it became nighttime, while in the comics it is triggered by extreme stress.
 * Stress being the trigger for Sonic's Werehog transformation is similar to Sonic's transformation into Super Sonic in Sonic the Comic where stress would cause Sonic to become Super Sonic.
 * Like in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic gloves are torn apart when he transforms into Sonic the Werehog, but when he reverts back to normal, he somehow regains them.