Time Eater

The Time Eater (タイム・イーター) is one of the main antagonists and the final boss of Sonic Generations. Initially a creature drifting through space, gifted with the power to "erase time and space", it was discovered by Dr. Eggman, who decided to use it to conquer the world by using it to alter history and fix his past failures with the help of his past self.

History
Though the Time Eater's origins remain a mystery as to what it is or where it came from, the original and primordial form of the Time Eater was a supernatural creature/force drifting through the vast regions of space in Sonic's universe. At some point, after his last defeat by Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr. Eggman discovered this form of the Time Eater, while he, Cubot and Orbot were floating through space. After examining it, Eggman discovered that the Time Eater had the ability to erase time and space. He then came up with the idea of utilizing the Time Eater's powers to prevent his previous defeats by the hands of Sonic, by altering and possibly erasing Sonic's history so that he would be victorious in the present.

Through unknown means, Dr. Eggman managed to provide the Time Eater with robot-like parts to make it stronger and which he could control. He was unable to complete the process, however, and he needed help from someone as smart as himself to finish the Time Eater. Still, even with the Time Eater incomplete, Dr. Eggman was able to travel through time and began interfering with history.

The Time Eater first appeared in Green Hill Zone as Classic Sonic, Sonic's past self, explored it. It is next seen in the present day, when it appears at a birthday party for Modern Sonic, Sonic's present self. The Time Eater created a series of time holes that captured Sonic's friends and scattered them throughout time, intending to bait Sonic into his laid-out traps. In the process the Time Eater beat back Sonic when he tried to stop it. Sonic is then forced into the White Space by the Time Eater, only to meet with his Classic self later.

After Classic Sonic defeated the Death Egg Robot aboard the Death Egg, the Time Eater reappeared, apparently kidnapping that time's Dr. Eggman; this actually turned out to be the result of Dr. Eggman search: It turned out that the only person smart enough to help Modern Dr. Eggman perfect the Time Eater was himself, so he decided to kidnap this time's Dr. Eggman so he could assist him. After disappearing from the Death Egg, Classic Dr. Eggman gladly decided to team up with Modern Dr. Eggman to defeat Sonic and help complete the Time Eater. The Time Eater reappeared several times after that, flying through the White Space. It is next seen after Modern Sonic defeated the Egg Dragoon, where it reappeared and kidnapped Modern Dr. Eggman (This time it was either possibly controlled by Classic Dr. Eggman or traveling on its own.)

After this, both Sonics confronted Time Eater in the Center of Time, where the perfected Time Eater appeared. Modern Dr. Eggman then revealed himself as the first pilot of the Time Eater, to which Modern Tails wondered how Eggman could pull it off. The second pilot is then revealed to be Classic Eggman, who stated that he had a little help. Modern Eggman then explained his discovery of the Time Eater, his partnership with Classic Dr. Eggman and his plans to use the Time Eater to erase Sonic's actions from history and to destroy both Classic and Modern Sonic, thus erasing Sonic from the time line entirely.

Modern Sonic declared that he takes on Eggman all the time and wins, and taunted him with fact that this time there were two of him to fight. Modern and Classic Dr. Eggman then began assaulting them with the Time Eater, where the Sonics evade all attacks. Modern Dr. Eggman however launched the Time Eater's arm into a time portal as the two Sonics attacked. The Time Eater effortlessly beated back both Sonics before the portal opened up behind them and Time Eater's arm emerged from it, squashing the pair.

As the Time Eater got ready to finish them off, however, Sonic's friends arrived and encouraged them both to defeat the Time Eater and both Eggmen. The Chaos Emeralds emerged and the pair transformed into Super Sonic who confronted the Time Eater in another dimension. The pair are eventually victorious in destroying the Time Eater, leaving both Eggmen stranded in the White Space while they and their friends returned to the present day while undoing all the Time Eater's work.

Archie Comics
The Time Eater made a short appearance in the Archie Comics' Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 230 as part of the comic's adaptation of Sonic Generations. It did however not make a full body appearance, and only its eyes and arm were shown.

Following Sonic Generations' plot the Time Eater appeared at Sonic's birthday party and kidnapped his friends. While Sonic tried to attack it, it quickly knocked him out however and send him to the White Space. Since the setting here was set in another zone, the events did not completely happen in the comic's main time line.

Powers and Abilities
The Time Eater possesses a vast mastery and control over the manipulation of time and space itself. Its time-space manipulation was in fact so advanced that it was able to interfere with alternate timelines such as Crisis City, which is supposed to be removed from the original timeline. Its primary and only known power in its original form, is its ability to erase time and space, which allows the Time Eater to erase events and place from history, as if they never happened. It is unknown what other powers the Time Eater had in its original form.

After being modified by Modern and Classic Dr. Eggman, the Time Eater proved itself to be quite powerful in battle, being able to take on two super transformed character at once. In its modified form, the Time Eater also displayed several other skills related to its time-space manipulation. The most prominent of these skills was its ability to create "time holes", spacial rifts that allows the Time Eater and others to travel through time and space to different locations throughout the timeline, both past and future and going as far as to other planets such as Planet Wisp.

By building up time energy, the Time Eater can form a seal that resembles the interior of a watch, which temporarily slows down the flow of time while leaving itself unaffected. In the 3DS version of the game it can also form clock-shaped shields that can block even a Super Sonic Boost. It can also move freely between dimensions as seen in its final battle with Modern and Classic Super Sonic.

The Time Eater's ability to travel through time serves as a double-edged sword, however. When moving through time, the Time Eater literally tears space apart by removing places from their position in their timeline, drains them of color and life and sends them to the White Space, a strange world without time. Living creatures which are put into this state experience it as, as Tails describes it, "floating without a body in a black limbo". This process effectively damages the world, and could bring the end of the world and, possibly destroy the very fabric of reality.

As seen in the final battle, the Time Eater can form yellow homing shots in its hands and fire several rows of shots that can track the opponent. It can also perform a move called the "Warping Arm Attack" where it separates up to two of its arms from its body and sends them through time holes to attack the foe. This does not only mean the Time Eater can bring its arms into the close vicinity of the opponent, but it can also select a specific point in the future for it to appear, making this move impossible for the opponent to predict. The Time Eater is also capable of energy projection, allowing it to fire small purple orbs that can immobilize the opponent, form a large, vortex-like laser, manipulate objects or fire up to three small green lasers as seen in the 3DS version. Its arguably most powerful attack is where it summons a giant fireball in the background and fires it at the opponent. This attack is so powerful that it requires the power of two Super Sonics to repel it.

Besides supernatural powers and weapons, the Time Eater also possesses immense amounts of physical strength. Even in its incomplete form, it was able to easily knock Sonic into unconsciousness with a single swing of its arm. After being completed, the Time Eater was able to effortlessly repel both Classic and Modern Sonic's attacks and knock them out with brute force alone (Eggman even admitted he was holding back the Time Eater's strength) and during the final battle it proved it was able to briefly knock back and immobilize both Classic and Modern Super Sonic when catching them it its grip.

Console/PC version
thumb|300px|right|Time Eater - Final Boss When facing the Time Eater, the player has control of both Classic and Modern Super Sonic (most of the boss battle is done in 3D style). The wormhole is cluttered with several ruin objects from Sonic's history, sometimes slowing Sonic down when he needs to boost. These obstacles can be destroyed with the partner attack. The battle begins with the two chasing Time Eater through a time wormhole, trying to maintain a distance from them. Its most used attack is a wave of homing missiles, aimed for whatever Sonic the player is in control of. But this attack is fairly easy to avoid as it is not very fast and Sonic does not lose rings when he is hit.

It sometimes dives out of the wormhole and into the outer void surrounding it. At this time, the player can switch to Classic Super Sonic's version of the final boss by pressing the triangle or "Y" button, pushing the two hedgehogs outside as well and shifting the camera to 2D. Another of the monster's attacks include warping its upper arms off its body and launching them through special rifts to attack Sonic. But the player can move Sonic away before the hand tries to swat them.

To defeat the Time Eater, the player must boost Sonic into the core of the beast, signaled by a lock-on target when in range. When the core is cracked from the impact, rings begin spewing out and can be collected through boost. After the first two hits, the Time Eater loses its lower body limbs, replaced by black misty smoke. It also has a new attack, a giant laser that charges before firing, which can only be dodged by switching Sonics at the last second. Also, the Time Eater can affect the flow of time and slow down time around both Sonics, letting it build a huge wave of homing attacks before time returns to normal speed. Also, it can shoot out a purple orb that will immobilize one of the Sonics, making a partner attack or switching impossible until the other Sonic is freed.

Once Time Eater's core has been hit three times, it unleashes its final attack. It launches a giant flaming fireball towards them that is too big to avoid. The only way to counter this is to use the "L1" and "R1" or "LB" and "RB" buttons at the same time to combine both Super Sonic's powers, bursting through and striking at Time Eater's core for the final blow. Do this and you have won the game.

In the hard mode version of this battle, it is harder to catch up to the Time Eater, there are more obstacles to avoid, and the Time Eater can shoot out three waves of homing attacks instead of one if given enough distance. Plus, it takes longer to strike the core with the last attack.

3DS version
thumb|right|300px|Sonic Generations 3DS - Final Boss. In the 3DS version, the battle is fought differently. The player cannot switch at will between Classic and Modern Super Sonic, and the Time Eater takes eight hits to defeat instead of four. The player also starts with 100 rings.

At the start, the player is in control of Classic Super Sonic. Much like the console version, here, the player must avoid its attacks, which include homing missiles and a sweeping arm attack. After the player manages to avoid these attacks, Classic Super Sonic can attack the Time Eater's core.

The player is automatically switched to Modern Super Sonic. Time Eater flies away from Sonic while launching attacks. The player must boost towards Time Eater. When Super Sonic is close enough, the Time Eater launches itself at Super Sonic, and the player must avoid this attack. When Super Sonic avoids the attack, a chance is given to attack the Time Eater's core by boosting into it.

This is repeated another three times. In each round, the Time Eater adds a new attack (for Classic Super Sonic, a weak laser attack and a much stronger laser burst, and for Modern Super Sonic, a warping arm attack and a clock shield which he must boost through without hitting the clock face's spinning hands or its edges), as well as modifying its existing attacks (such as firing more homing shots, or moving faster with its warping arms).

On the eighth round, Time Eater and the two Super Sonics fall through a wormhole. To finish the battle, the player must boost towards Time Eater, streaking one last time through its core.

Trivia

 * This is the only original boss in Sonic Generations since the rest are all re-imaginings of previous bosses.
 * This is to date the only time Eggman has uncovered a mysterious creature that hasn't later grown out of his control and betrayed him.
 * Due to the fact that Eggman did not technically "create" the Time Eater, it leaves to wonder what gave birth to Time Eater.
 * The scene in the boss trailer showing Time Eater confronting the two Sonics and Tails in Green Hill never happens in the game. They really encounter Time Eater face-to-face in the Center of Time.
 * In the console version, the Time Eater has 4 arms and 3 sets of wings, but in the handheld version, he has 2 arms and one set of wings.
 * In the console version, when using Modern Super Sonic, the fight takes place inside the wormhole, and Classic Sonic fights outside. In the 3DS version, the roles are reversed; Modern Sonic fights it outside and Classic Sonic fights inside.
 * The Time Eater bears a heavy resemblance to the Shadow Blot from the game Epic Mickey (as you can see here). They both act as the main antagonist and final boss of the game and they are also consuming the world where the game takes place. He also bears resemblance to Diabound Kernel from the Yu-Gi-Oh series, as both act as guardians for their masters, as well as sharing the same name as the card Time Eater.
 * During the first phase of the boss fight, debris from the Classic era can be seen in the wormhole (ex., Land from Green Hill). During the second phase, debris from the Dreamcast era is present (ex., Vehicles from City Escape). And during the third phase, debris from the Modern era is floating around (ex., Clock Tower from Rooftop Run).
 * Every time Time Eater is damaged, the clock and the numerous cogs behind it begin to crumble and look distorted.
 * The Time Eater bears resemblance to Solaris in the way that their weak point is a sphere at the center of its body, they have time travel ability, they are destroying the timeline, and they are so powerful that it took the effort of multiple super-powered characters to defeat.
 * In fact, before pictures of Time Eater were shown, fans thought it would be very similar to Solaris.
 * Oddly enough, despite the Time Eater being similar in respect to Solaris (both are very powerful entities that are related to time), it could never actually hurt either Super Sonic (that is, by making them lose Rings), while Solaris could.
 * Despite being controlled by Dr. Eggman, the Time Eater does show some independence, such as growling and crying, as shown when it hit a Chaos Emerald and was crying in pain before escaping through a Time hole. (Possibly on its own)
 * The Time Eater's face looks very similar to the Violet Void in the DS version of Sonic Colors.
 * The two Super Sonics destroyed the Time Eater in a similar way that Super Sonic and Burning Blaze finished off the Egg Salamander.
 * The Time Eater is one of the few enemies who have been fought by more than one super character. the other ones that have this trait are Solaris, the Finalhazard, the Egg Salamander, and the Egg Wizard.