Sonic the Werehog

Sonic the Werehog (known by some fans as "Werewolf Sonic", "Nightmare Sonic", or "WereSonic") is Sonic's bestial form in the game Sonic Unleashed. Sonic the Hedgehog was transformed when Dr. Eggman used a machine to painfully suck out the power of the Chaos Emeralds in its entirety from Super Sonic, with which Eggman would fire a specialized laser weapon at the planet, releasing and awakening the creature known as Dark Gaia from the core of the planet. It is stated in-game that it is Dark Gaia's power that causes Sonic's nightly transformation into this form. Sonic only transforms at night because that is the only time of day when Dark Gaia can move about and affect people, making night the only time when Dark Gaia can also affect Sonic.

Sonic transforms into a monster at night, which makes his quest more complicated. When transforming into the Werehog (or transforming back to normal), a light and a cloud of purple smoke envelops him. Sonic the Werehog also features a different gameplay than Sonic. He attacks with his arms and fists, which can stretch out and punch his foes. Rather than using a counted number of rings, Sonic uses a health bar, collecting rings refills the bar. Aside from the usual ability of Sonic being able to race down ramps throughout the levels, in Werehog form you must get across gaps in a tightrope walking fashion.

Sonic appears to retain most of his normal abilities in this form as well as the ability to speak, though with more of a growl than normal. Therefore, it can basically just be considered a darker, feral form of Sonic's rather than as a split-personality monster like other interpretations of werewolves. Sonic the Werehog still has Sonic the Hedgehog's good heart, even though he is in a wolf-like form. This is primarily due to his will; it's too strong for Dark Gaia to affect.

In the mini-movie Sonic: Night of the Werehog, Sonic the Werehog unknowingly gained the affection of a female ghost that two male ghosts were trying to impress.

Before the battle with Dark Gaia, Dark Gaia re-absorbed its remaining power that Sonic had incidentally taken at the start of the game, returning Sonic to his default form. Sonic the Werehog may appear in future games.

Sonic the Werehog also made his appearance in the horror comic, Hyena Labs. Comix: Unleashed as the main antagonist. In the comic, Sonic asks J.C. the Hyena if he could help him learn what it feels like being the bad guy for once, so J.C. uses a machine simalar to the machine Dr. Eggman used in Sonic Unleashed and turns Sonic into the Werehog. In the comic, Sonic flat out wants to become a Werehog forever, so J.C. helps him complete his first "evil" plans. Realizing that Sonic can only become a monster at night, J.C. builds him another machine, that oddly resembles the control panel of the Eclipse Cannon, capable of making nighttime forever, called the Eternal Night Machine. After that, Sonic decides on having J.C. host the Nightmare Contest, a strange event involving everybody in Hyena City to become real monsters, such as Silver as a zombie and Shadow as a vampire, so nobody would find out about Sonic's dark secret. When the Contest is over, Sonic would be off the hook and journey into the everlasting night doing whatever he wants to do without anyone noticing him as a big, evil Werehog. But before Sonic could set out, he and J.C. find out that J.C.'s sister, Rainy, is trying to ruin their plans by putting the Nightmare Contest to a screeching halt, Sonic feels that his secret is threatened, and so does J.C. So they order the Dark soldiers to hunt her down, but eventually they decide to let Rainy do her thing and stop the event when they both realize that she doesn't know a thing about Sonic being a monstrous villain. Sonic laughs maniacally as he learns that once Rainy ends the Contest he'll have the pleasure of finishing her off himself and his secret will never be revealed. Rainy eventually encounters Sonic and is shocked to see him in his beastly form. Being villainous, both Sonic and J.C. tell her their plan in attempt to rub it in her face, telling her that she has sealed her own doom cancelling the Nightmare Contest for Sonic. But when they tell her about the Eternal Night Machine and where it's location is, she runs to Sunny Hill, where the machine is hidden. The duo race Rainy all the way from Hyena City to Sunny Hill (actually Sonic ran there, J.C. just used Chaos Control), and when they made it, Rainy discovers that the Eternal Night Machine is being fueled by the Chaos Emeralds, so in a huge battle, Rainy eventually destroys the Machine, setting the natural night and day routine back to it's original course. Enraged, Sonic begins to brutalize Rainy, but Rainy fights back just as much. Rainy ultimately defeats Sonic the Werehog by actually stalling for time until the sun rises and turns Sonic back to his default form. But in the end of the comic, it is revealed that Sonic pretended to surrender in his defeat in order to make Rainy believe he has been turned back to normal permanently, and make her forget about the whole ordeal. Because as the sun disappears into the horizon, Sonic has the last laugh as he is turned back into a werehog, forever unknown by anyone else.

Abilities
Extendable arms: Werehog Sonic can stretch his arms over long distances, aiding him in fighting enemies and traversing the world.

Increased strength: Sonic is notably stronger in Werehog form, allowing him to lift open closed doors and effortlessly pick up, carry and throw crates and enemies.

Beat Down: Allows Sonic to swing and smash a grabbed enemy

Unleashed Mode: Sonic can enter this form with enough power in the Unleashed Guage. This doubles the damage dealt and halves the damage taken (in the latter's case, it makes Sonic invincible instead in the X360 version of Sonic Unleashed).

Were-Hammer: Sonic slams the ground and creates a shock wave that damages and pushes back enemies

Were-Claw: Sonic slashes enemies while dashing. Enemies hit will become stunned.

Were-Wallop: Sonic slashed with both claws in an uppercut fashion and sends enemies in the air.

Earthshaker: Sonic pounds the ground with both fists, creating a close-range earthquake. Can be turned to catch more enemies.

Memorable Quotes
"Oh yeah! That's right baby!" Sonic after getting an "S" rank in the 360/PS3 version of Sonic unleashed

"You've really...gone and done it this time, Eggman!" Sonic after being transformed into a Werehog.

"I know little girls that can use a hammer better than you! Well one, anyway." Sonic after defeating the boss in Shamar.

"Mr- Monster Guy? Looks like things have gotten pretty ugly." Sonic after Chip calls him "Mr. Monster Guy".

"G-geez, Eggman! Simmer down!" Sonic falling midway through fighting the Egg Dragoon.

Friends
Sonic the Werehog shares all the same friends as Sonic
 * Miles "Tails" Prower (Best Friend)
 * Amy Rose
 * Chip/Light Gaia
 * Professor Pickle
 * J.C. the Hyena (Hyena Labs. Comix: Unleashed)

Foes

 * Eggman
 * Dark Gaia
 * The photographer ghosts (Sonic: Night of the Werehog)
 * Rainy Chenevert (''Hyena Labs. Comix: Unleashed)

Trivia

 * The Werehog's ability to stretch his arms to be used for combat is similar to that of Ristar (although Ristar only used said ability to grab opponents). Some fans consider that the Werehog's stretching arms could also be from the character Monkey D. Luffy from the anime/manga One Piece.
 * One can say that the transformation in itself, especially with the full moon, is similar to the Oozaru from Dragon Ball Z, although that in itself seems to base itself off the Werewolf transformation in that both require a full moon to be present, whereas Sonic the Werehog only requires it to be night.
 * It may also be a reference to Wolf Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, as a dark substance transforms the hero into a beast.
 * This form was caused by the negative energy of Dark Gaia infecting Sonic.
 * This is the first forced transformation in the games, unless one counts Darkspine Sonic as a forced transformation.
 * Sonic the Werehog is the third Sonic character to get a Sonic Channel wallpaper after his first appearance, the other two being Silver the Hedgehog and Chip.
 * SEGA have officially announced that fans have not seen the last of the werehog, implying he will appear later on.
 * His voice resembles both Jet the Hawk and Shadow the Hedgehog, as they're all played by the same voice actor. Sometimes his voice sounds identical to Vector the Crocodile
 * Due to Sonic's gloves getting torn up, Sonic's hands might be blue. That may not be a possibility, as they could also be peach due to the arms that connect them when normal.
 * Even though he is a Werehog no-one mentions the word or name Werehog in the game except for in other media like Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 193 where Sonic states "Why am I this werehog ?" in the Sonic Unleashed tie-in comic. Also,after a certain number of times you feed Chip,he will eventually say "Werehog or not,I'm still your friend".
 * The only time in Sonic Unleashed the word "Werehog" is mentioned is in the videos "The werehogs fall" "Divine beast vs. Werehog," etc.
 * The Werehog has canine teeth, as fangs are visible in cutscenes and pictures. Until Sonic recieved his Werehog transformation, he did not have canine teeth. It may have been added to strengthen the 'werewolf' effect.
 * While both Sonic in his normal and werehog forms are voiced by Jason Griffith in the English version, the Japanese version has the werehog voiced by a different actor. While normal Sonic is voiced by Junichi Kanemaru (His current Japanese voice actor), the werehog's Japanese voice is instead provided by Tomokazu Seki.
 * The term "Werehog" is derived from the words "werewolf" and "hedgehog" as fans may assume that "wolfman" and "werewolf" practically mean the same thing. However, since the Old English "were" means "man", a more proper term would be something like ílwolf, from the Old English "íl", meaning "hedgehog".
 * Sonic's strength as a Werehog may come from the fact that the werewolf's strength and power comes from a supernatural source.
 * When Sonic transforms into the werehog his shoes become cleats, which is how he is able to walk normally in the Holoska Night Stages without slipping.
 * Sonic's eye's, while he is in the Gaia Gates, changes from his normal emeraled green eye's to dark red.
 * Sonic the Werehog is the second Sonic's transformation to have a profile on Sonic Channel,the first one is Super Sonic.
 * In the Xbox 360 version of Sonic Unleashed,if a player would press the A button right after pressing B before the Werehog reaches a cliff,the Werehog would perform a spin jump similar to Sonic's.
 * Sonic the Werehog could be considered by some to be Power Formation, for his slow speed, (but not too slow), but great amount of power.