Chip

"Want some chocolate?"

- Chip

Chip (チップ) real name: Light Gaia is a small, burgundy colored, brown-eyed flying animal who debuts in Sonic Unleashed. He has a white tuft on the top of his head, similar to his tail, has tiny translucent turquoise wings on his back and a green bauble on his neck. He was first seen in a Japanese manga adaption of Sonic Unleashed. In this, Sonic wakes up after Dr. Eggman's laser gun mutates him into a monstrous version of himself. Chip is seen lying on the ground nearby, and Sonic attempts to make sure that he is okay. Chip flies away, afraid at first, though he soon realizes Sonic is good.

Sonic Unleashed
Chip loses his memory when Sonic lands on him after he falls from Dr. Eggman's spaceship--at least, that's the assumption, though it's later revealed that he actually lost his memory because he was awakened prematurely, just like Dark Gaia--and follows Sonic on his adventure to help regain his memory. Chip loves eating and always brings chocolate around with him, even offering some to those he thinks need it. Sonic even names him "Chip" for the chocolate chips on the ice cream he's eating at the time (stating, "I gotta call you something, don't I?"), which he immediately takes as his "name". He is optimistic and cheerful, but has a strange power he sometimes uses to help Sonic. He also has a dark secret hidden in his memories.



Light Gaia is Chip's real name. Born at the beginning of time, Light Gaia is the opposite of Dark Gaia, and is the representation of light, day, and rebirth. He awoke when Dr. Eggman split the world apart with his beam. Due to the premature awakening, he lost his memories, but regained them when Sonic restored the sixth of the Chaos Emeralds.

His purpose is to put the world back together when Dark Gaia destroys it. Dark Gaia dwells within the Earth's core for eons, feeding on the negative feelings and energies of the Earth's denizens, and emerging when it was grown strong enough. It is Light Gaia's job to defeat Dark Gaia and return him to the Earth.

To defeat Dark Gaia, he creates the Gaia Colossus out of the seven Temples of Gaia. In the end, when the planet begins to piece itself back together, Chip throws the exhausted Sonic back up to the Earth's surface and allows himself to be resealed within the Earth along with Dark Gaia. When Sonic comes to, he sees Chip lying unconscious on the ground, similar to their meeting, but it turns out to be an illusion as he quickly disappears. However, his necklace remains on the ground. Sonic puts the necklace on as a bracelet as Chip assures him telepathically that he will never forget him, and that he will always be with Sonic, a part of the Earth he treads. Due to his sacrifice it is unknown if he will return in future Sonic games, though it is unlikely.

Sonic World Adventure
Chip is the main character in the manga that is based on a videogame called, Sonic Unleashed. Similar to that of the videogame, Chip meets Sonic when he falls from the sky, and Sonic agrees to help Chip recover his memory since Sonic thought it was his fault that Chip strted suffering from amnesia. At the day time they reach a village called Apotos, in there Chip wanted ice cream, so when he found out that there is an icecream vendor selling icecream he goes in and accidently breaks the shop. The icecream vendor was panicking because his shop broke down and Chip was telling Sonic that, "I wants ice cream! If there is no shop, then there will be no ice cream! Then I would be really hungry!", Sonic, thinking to himself that it was actually Chip who broke the store, so it is his fault he gets annoyed by Chip. Sonic then promises the ice cream vendor that he'll fix his shop later. Sonic and Chip leave to find materials for the repairs. Chip is very happy to help, but ends up finding food instead of construction material. Sonic scolds him, saying it's not the time to look for food, but Chip is already picking up apples for the future ice cream, and even though Sonic scolds him some more, Chip manages to find a strawberry. Sonic kicks him in the head, and leaves annoyed. After defeating a few Egg Fighters, Sonic found out that he can use the broken Egg Fighters to make the vendor's shop, when Sonic shows the shop, the vendor thanks him. Now that Chip found out that he could get ice cream, he wanted to be the first customer, but when he reached there, the Egg Fighter (who was the shop) shot him with ice cream.

The other part of the manga (which is Chapter 2) is exactly like the events in the videogame (only the part when Sonic and Chip first met). When they met, Chip got scared off his werehog form and punched Sonic's eyes, telling him that he tastes bad, when Chip found out that Sonic is actually a very "gentle person", he becomes overjoyed when Sonic agrees to get his memory back, in the end Chip goes on saying, "Yay! It's Sonic's fault that I don't remember anything! Now Sonic will have to give me ice cream!", while Sonic was bothered by Chip's actions.

Early Concept & Design
Early designs of Chip showed him being a fairy, ghost or a bird. The final design became a dog.

Name
Chip was formerly supposed to be named "Whip", in a reference to "whipped cream", which is the reason that whipped cream became an early design motif (for example, some early concepts had his hair like a dollop of whipped cream). However, because the word whip has different connotations in English (including the act of punishment, whipping, or suffering injury, as in the term whiplash), Sega of America was not pleased with name, so then they changed the name to Chip.

According to the storyline of Sonic Unleashed, Chip's real name is Light Gaia, but he lost his memory so when he met Sonic, he forgot his name. Sonic agrees to help him get his memory back, as they travel to the town, Chip bought this ice cream called "Chocolate Chip Sundae Supreme", when both of them were eating, Chip said, "Wow! This chip whatever stuff is great!". Then, Sonic said "If you say so, how's about we search and find out somebody who knows you, Chip?", notice that Sonic just automatically called him Chip. Chip questioned, "Chip?", Sonic then replied, "Gotta call you something don't I? Well, what do you think?", Chip said that he loves the name saying that it is a delicious name. When, Chip got his memory back, he told Sonic his real name, but in the end of the game, Sonic still called him Chip.

Personality
Chip loves chocolate, which he carries throughout the story. He also offers many people a chocolate bar when he meets them. He loves food a lot, as seen in one cutscene in Apotos; Sonic is trying to talk to him, but he is distracted by an ice cream stand and completely ignoring him. When they work with Tails to save the kidnapped Professor Pickle, he is mostly concerned that the Professor might be starving to death, though Tails assures him that Eggman is feeding him; even Eggman isn't that cruel. Chip is playful and somewhat not that smart and goofy. Before a boss, he will act threatening and scary (a contrast to how he isn't, as seen in Sonic: Night of the Werehog, where he is genuinely terrified of the ghosts in the mansion that he and Sonic visit and even faints dead away after Sonic teasingly scares him with a flashlight). Chip is one of the few people who can actually annoy Sonic.

Sonic the Hedgehog
There is no one more close to Chip than Sonic. The two are great friends. Sonic first met Chip when he fell from the sky to Earth, when Chip first saw him, he was a Werehog, that look of Sonic frightened Chip and he thought that Sonic was going to eat him. Then Chip realized that he is a nice guy and thanked him for being concerned about his health. Sonic agreed to help Chip with his memory as he couldn't remember anything, not even his own name. Sonic decided to call him "Chip" even when in the end of Sonic Unleashed, Chip got his memory back and told Sonic that his real name is "Light Gaia", however in the end of the game when Sonic passed out lying almost dead on the floor, but heard Chip's voice from somewhere, he whispered, "...Chip...".

Chip also seems to bug Sonic, and thus, Sonic also seems to bug Chip like in Sonic: Night of the Werehog, when Chip didn't want to go in the mansion because he was scared, Sonic just went in, leaving Chip making a "whiny" and "scared" expression.

In one cutscene Chip said that he'll never forget Sonic and that Sonic is his best friend, he also said that Sonic is so generous that no evil can affect him. When Chip found out his duty, he started going on his own, Sonic stopped him and asked where was he going, Chip told him that their is no reason for him to come to help, Sonic replies, "Do I need a reason to want to help a friend?", then Chip thanked Sonic for being so nice. In the end of the game, Sonic falls from space to Earth and hallucinates Chip lying on the floor, when Sonic comes closer the image of Chip dissappears, but the collar wasn't a hallucination, Sonic then kept the collar as a bracelet and hears Chip's echoing voice saying that he'll always be there for him.

Friends

 * Sonic the Hedgehog/Werehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Prof. Pickle
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna [Scrapped friend]
 * Shadow the Hedgehog [Scrapped friend]

Foes

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Dark Gaia
 * Bandanna Ghost and Bow Tie Ghost ("Sonic: Night of the Werehog")

Quotes

 * "Want some chocolate?"- Whenever Chip offers somebody chocolate.
 * "Don't eat me! I taste bad!"-When Chip first saw Sonic the Werehog.
 * "Mr. Monster Guy is back!"- When he first saw Sonic transform into Werehog.
 * "Seven lights of the Earth rekindled...Awaken! And gather here to me!"- When he wanted to use the power of the temples.
 * "Sonic... You must.... Live."- When Sonic falls tired after defeating Dark Gaia
 * "Chip?"- When Sonic automatically called him "Chip".
 * "Yeah! Chip! I love it! Yum!"- When Sonic asks him if he likes the name "Chip".
 * "Sonic! Hit Dark Gaia's weak spot! Quick! While I hold him back!"- Chip directing Sonic how to defeat Dark Gaia
 * "Sonic. I remember now. All of it."- When Chip tells Sonic that he has recovered from his loss of memory.
 * "My...My real name is Light Gaia."- When Chip tells Sonic his real name.
 * "Chocolate Chip Sundae Suuppreeeeme!"- When Chip was tempted by an ice cream.
 * "Mmmm, this chip whatever stuff is great."- Chip enjoying his ice-cream.

Trivia

 * Throughout Sonic Unleashed, Chip uses the same camera that the Photographer Ghosts used in the 3D animated movie Sonic: Night of the Werehog.
 * Chip's role in Sonic Unleashed is very similar to Shahra the Ring Genie's role in Sonic and the Secret Rings.
 * Chip, Dark Gaia, Chaos and Black Doom are the oldest Sonic characters. However, Chip states that he and Dark Gaia have been around since the beginning of time, making them the oldest.
 * Sonic's naming of Chip after the ice-cream he was eating is similar in nature to how Sonic gave Emerl its name.
 * Chip is the smallest character in the series, he is roughly the same size as a Chao.
 * In the Xbox 360/PS3 version of Sonic Unleashed, one of the collectable souvenirs from Adabat looks like Chip.
 * Chip bears a resemblance to Alex Kidd, the former mascot of Sega before Sonic took over in 1991. Similarities include color scheme, proportions, and even a bauble around the neck. Also worth noting is that Alex also has an affinity for food. If Chip was inspired by Alex, this might be an inside joke from Sega.
 * Chip is one of the few characters to have a neck.
 * Chip is one of the two characters to break the 4th wall in Sonic Unleashed. The other being Sonic.
 * In the manga that was based on Sonic Unleashed, Chip speaks in a different manner, saying things like, "Chip wants ice-cream!" rather than, "I want icecream!" Unlike in the video game, he would talk in third-person and often refer to himself as "Chip" instead of "Me," "Mines," or "I."
 * In the Japanese version of Sonic Unleashed, Chip's voice is much higher, almost sounding like a little kid.
 * Chip is the second character to have amnesia, first being Shadow