Sally (SatAM)

Princess Sally (born 3219) is one of the main characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog television series. She is an anthropomorphic ground squirrel and the daughter of the King, making her the heir to the throne as the future ruler of Mobius. When Dr. Robotnik rose to power, Sally and the other children were send to Knothole Village for safety. Here, she became one of the Knothole Freedom Fighters and worked together with her friend over the next ten years at overthrowing Robotnik's tyranny.

Concept and creation
An early design of Sally was featured in an article of Sonic the Poster Mag #1 that announced a new animated series starring 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, however, shares few similarities with Sally's final appearance.

Appearance
Sally is an anthropomorphic squirrel with brown fur, light tan skin, blue eyes and auburn hair. In the first season, her only outfit is blue knee-high boots, but in the second season, she gains a blue formal vest to match her boots.

History
Sally was born into the Royal Family and was the heir to the throne. Becoming overwhelmed with these responsibilities left her isolated and sheltered from the outside. She befriended Sonic the Hedgehog during an arranged play date by Sonic's Uncle Chuck.

Following Dr. Robotnik's coup, Sally and the other children escaped Robotnik's force by fleeing to Knothole Village, but her father was imprisoned by Dr. Robotnik. While living in Knothole, Sally became one of the village's Freedom Fighters, serving as the group's strategist and de facto leader. She also became the surrogate aunt of Tails where she becomes overprotective of his safety. Over the next ten years, she and her friends then worked together to fight back and overthrow Robotnik's rule.

Personality
Sally is smart, confident, deliberate, and mature. She is likewise strong-minded, logical and focused, preferring to plan ahead of situations, while having a loving devotion to her people and friends. Her attitude stems from childhood due to a strict upbringing of learning etiquette, royal studies, and the family credo. 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.

Sally's friendship with Sonic is a conflicting one, since Sonic antagonizes Sally due to her "slowness" while she tries to improve his mannerisms. Sonic was often an endless source of neuroses for Sally, who could be very sardonic and confrontational with his opportunistic, rebellious attitude, which contrasts her extremely meticulous and no-nonsense personality.

In the first season, this was sometimes played against her, leading her to self righteously rival Sonic's on-the-fly methods and sometimes cause problems in her bull-headedness about her planning. Her personality is calmed a little in the Second Season however, where she is usually portrayed as more level-headed and tactful than Sonic, and often required to bail him out when his recklessness gets him into trouble. Despite their constant bickering, however, they do best as a team.

In spite of being a princess and proud of her title and heritage, Sally is very down-to-Earth and dislikes being treated any differently from the rest of her friends. She has a pride that rivals Sonic's on the field however, and can be ornery and easily flustered when conflicting with another. Ultimately though, she is only concerned for her team's well being and shows extra concern for Sonic.

Trivia

 * Sally's middle name is Alicia.
 * In the pilot episode of Sonic the Hedgehog TV series, "Heads or Tails", Sally had pink fur with brown hair, much like her Archie Comics counterpart had in the early issues of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series. In the following episodes, however, Sally was designed to have brown and tan fur and dark auburn hair. This design for Sally was eventually adapted into the comic books as well.
 * In the English-language manual of Sonic the Hedgehog CD for the Sega CD, Amy Rose is credited as Princess Sally, in an attempt to support the Sonic the Hedgehog TV series (though the PC version and all later games called her Amy).
 * In Japan, Sally was known by both her real name and a nickname of hers called "Ricki". This never made its way to America.
 * Sally appears as a main character in Sonic Live in Sydney.
 * 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.
 * Interestingly, Sally's last name, Acorn, is never mentioned in the show itself, though is referred to in the show's bible.