Marine the Raccoon

Marine the Raccoon (マリン・ザ・ラクーン) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series who first appeared in Sonic Rush Adventure. She is an anthropomorphic raccoon and a sailor from Southern Island in Blaze's world. When she began her travels, Marine met Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower and Blaze the Cat, and joined them on their seafaring search for the Jeweled Scepter, where she formed everlasting friendships.

Always energetic, Marine is talkative, but rarely listens. A spunky rascal, she is a lover of excitement and constantly seeks adventures. She aspires to become the captain of her own ship so she can travel the world, but can be quite the handful. During her adventures with Sonic though, she has matured and has sworn to grow more up.

Appearance
Marine is a humanoid raccoon with orange fur, a white muzzle, a small back nose, and blue eyes. She has brown triangular ears, brown rings around her rounded tail, and has dark brown and cream-stripe markings around her eyes. On her neck she has two upturned pigtails with brown tips that are held together by yellow scrunchies. Her attire consists of a lime green top with a white trim, short black leggings, lime green and orange shoes, white socks, and tan gloves.

Early life
Marine was born on Southern Island in the middle of nowhere on the sea, where she was kept company by the Coconut Crew from a young age. Growing up, Marine dreamt of going out and see the world as the captain of her own ship and have adventures, eventually becoming discontent over staying on her island like a prisoner. As such, she would spent her days gazing across the ocean, particular at the Plant Kingdom, while wondering about what lied beyond her home.

By the time she was seven years old, Marine finally decided to set out, and took up sailing and shipbuilding, making numerous attempts to make her own ship with Materials.

Sonic Rush Adventure
In Sonic Rush Adventure, Marine found Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower when they washed up on Seagull Beach. Claiming to having "saved" them, introductions were made and Marine promptly invited them to stay with her until they found a way home. The next day, Marine took the SS Marine out on its maiden voyage while Sonic and Tails watched, but she failed to control it and crashed. Her loss left Marine devastated, but Tails offered to built her a new boat. While Marine was unsure about it due to several issues, Sonic and Tails made the Wave Cyclone with a book provided by Marine. Proclaiming herself the captain, Marine "lead" the group out on their journey to different islands, looking for Materials.

While Marine got to see new places, often wandering off despite Sonic and Tails' warnings, the group was attacked by several robotic enemies on their journey which Marine suspected was jealous of her adventures. They also met the rogue racer Johnny, who Marine goaded into challenging her, only to pass it over to Sonic. When reaching Coral Cave, Marine unveiled the isle by poking at an altar. There, they met Captain Whisker, whom Marine antagonized, and his crew, who were the ones behind the robot attacks. They also met Sonic's old ally, Blaze the Cat, who helped fight off Whisker, though the pirates got away with the Jeweled Scepter, an artifact in Coral Cave which Blaze tried to protect. Hearing that Sonic and Tails were actually from another world, Marine had them explain it all, and they decided to help Blaze recover the scepter which posed a threat to both their worlds.

As the crew searched for the pirates' hideout, Marine kept working everyone's nerves with her antics and insistence to follow them despite the dangers. After tracking and losing the pirates at Haunted Ship where Marine tried poorly to hide her fear of ghosts, reaching Blizzard Peaks where they freeing the captive Vikings from the pirates while Marine was introduced to snow, and uncovering the secrets of Sky Babylon which Marine unearthed by fumbling with priceless relics, the heroes located the pirates on Pirates' Island. However, Marine was shocked to hear that her crew wanted to her to stay behind while they faced the pirates to protect her, and insisted to come. However, as Blaze revealed bluntly they thought she was a nuisance, she ran off crying.

Not letting it set her back, Marine set off to prove herself by stopping the pirates alone, but got herself capturedught by Whisker and set to be tortured by the Ghost Titan. Luckily, Sonic and Blaze rescued and defeated Whisker for good, while Marine swiped the Jeweled Scepter when Whisker was not looking. Though she still got reprimand for her recklessness, Marine gave the scepter back to Blaze and made up with her friends. Marine thus accepted she was no captain and had to be more careful, but kept her ambition of becoming a real captain one day.

As Marine worked with her friends to bring Sonic and Tails back home with the Chaos Emeralds and Sol Emeralds, while working on her own ship, they got news that the Jeweled Scepter was stolen again. Shortly after, Marine and the crew met the true thieves, who turned out to be Dr. Eggman and Dr. Eggman Nega, who revealed from their Egg Wizard that they created the pirates to find the Jeweled Scepter, and then use its incredible power to build Eggmanland upon both worlds. Marine and the crew followed the villains to Deep Core, where Super Sonic and Burning Blaze tried to beat the Egg Wizard as it harnessed the Power of the Stars. On the verge of defeat, Eggman Nega tried to destroy the planet, but Marine distracted the Egg Wizard with her energy blast ability, giving Super Sonic and Burning Blaze the opening they needed to finish the doctors off.

With the Jeweled Scepter secured, Marine went to see Sonic and Tails off in her SS Super-Marine as the duo left in the SS Tornado EX. Though she was sad to see them go, Marine took solace in their promise that they would meet again, and vowed that she would have grown much more up the next time they met, before returning home to Blaze.

Sonic Colors
In the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, it is mentioned that Marine was current being the "same as ever", meaning she was getting into trouble like always.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Although Marine does not appear in person in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, a costume of her is available for purchase. It can be worn by a player's Mii and gives the Mii the stats of Marine.

Personality
Marine is cheerful, carefree and energetic, but also stubborn at times, brash and overconfident. She is extremely scatterbrained, always following her first intuition, and so often acts before she thinks. Marine loves to talk and does not know when to stop chattering, but she never listens to others and hardly does anything she is told if not in the mood. She is likewise relatively bossy and attention-seeking. She also has a habit of exaggerating and embellishing, often to make herself seem more important or talented; as such, she tends to strike others as annoying. Nevertheless, she generally means well and cares deeply for her friends, and can be counted upon when needed. She is also surprisingly a neat freak.

Marine is an overly adventurous spirit, always longing to see new places to encounter and overcome new challenges. However, this makes her impatient and prone to recklessly charge into dangers. Because of her isolated upbringing, Marine knows little about her world and cannot help go crazy with excitement when seeing anything new and can be so caught up in it that everything else around her becomes invisible.

While Marine wants to be acknowledged as a full-fledged sea captain, she is still a child and is a natural when it comes to creating a scene. She can be really bratty when not getting her way, starts crying when emotional, is afraid of ghosts, and has trouble saying certain words. Early on, Marine also insisted she was a real captain once she had a ship despite having no prior experience and refused to recognize her own shortcomings in favor of taking charge of the situation so not to show weakness or lose her dignity. While her cover-up attempts are poor, she thinks of herself as a great actor. However, she eventually realized her own flaws, which have made her much more mature, careful, humble and dedicated to growing up and study. Regardless, she remains ever adventurous and still gets herself into trouble.

Marine speaks with an exaggerated Australian accent, using Australian slang words such as 'strewth', 'bonza' and 'cobber' and adding the word 'mate' to the end of her sentences.

Powers and abilities
Marine has at least passible skills in the Material-based technology for shipbuilding, though they pale in comparison to Tails'. She was able to construct a small boat on her own, although it had several bugs, but eventually grew proficient enough to build a fully operational water bike on her own. While also starting out as an amateur, Marine has gained general sailing skills, being able to ride a waterbike alone.

Marine has some sort of power that lets her project white energy blasts from her fists. The fact that the Egg Wizard was knocked back by just one attack suggests that there is great power to this ability. She is also a very fast runner, able to keep up with even Sonic, though she lacks the stamina to keep it up. While not technically a special skill or ability, Marine is also able to talk her way into almost anything; she goaded Johnny into challenging her by preying on his ego and made her friends take her on dangerous missions with tantrums.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of Marine's closest friends, whom she quickly befriended after meeting him. When making herself captain, Marine declared Sonic one of her assistants despite Sonic never agreeing to it. As captain, Marine generally worried for Sonic's well-being and looked after him (though it was actually the other way around) like a friend, but she insisted he followed her orders. Though Marine would get jealous at Sonic for tackling their more dangerous enemies, she admires his skills and marked him as her "best pupil" and deputy captain. Meanwhile, Sonic tolerated Marine's antics, but often noted how "hopeless" a case she was.

When Marine learned that Sonic thought of her as a nuisance, she felt betrayed and called him stupid, but made up with him and stopped bossing him around. As Sonic went home with Tails, Marine earned his respect with her newfound maturity and told him how he was the best friend ever. Though she cried at Sonic's departure, she vowed to meet him again no matter the boundaries.

Miles "Tails" Prower
Miles "Tails" Prower is one of Marine's closest friends. Shortly after his arrival, Marine befriended Tails, who in turn helped her built ships so she could go on adventures. When Marine declared herself captain, she made Tails her assistant, though Tails never agreed to it. As captain, Marine generally worried for Tails' well-being and looked after him (though it was actually the other way around) like a friend, but she insisted he followed her lead. While Marine is amazed at Tails' intellect, she often ignored his warnings and told him he was no fun. While Tails accepted Marine's antics, her behavior always made him worry.

When it was revealed that Tails thought she was a nuisance, Marine felt betrayed and called him stupid, but made up with him and stopped commanding him. When Tails then went home with Sonic, Marine earned his respect with her newfound maturity and told him how he was the best friend ever. She thus vowed to meet him again no matter what, though she could not help crying over his departure.

Blaze the Cat
Blaze the Cat is another one of Marine's best friends, though their relationship started out more strenuous compared to Sonic and Tails'. During the first meeting, Blaze noted how Marine was just a "little girl", which Marine took as an insult and told Sonic and Tails to get her. However, she quickly put this aside to help Blaze.

Originally, there was much conflict between Marine's energetic nature and Blaze's no-nonsense attitude. Unlike Sonic and Tails, Blaze was far more direct with Marine about her antics and often called out her recklessness, if only out of concern. On the other hand, Marine tried to establish herself as Blaze's captain, who would either ignore her or tell her to stay in line. In turn, Marine would say how a bore Blaze was. However, the hardest blow came when Blaze told Marine she was a nuisance. Regardless, this was a cataclyst for Marine's development; after putting herself in danger to prove herself, Marine gained respect for Blaze's judgment and realized her shortcomings, while Blaze grew fond of Marine after she proved her resourcefulness by getting the Jeweled Scepter back. Now good friends, Marine find comfort in Blaze's support and has seemingly kept contact with her.

Southern Island residents
Marine has a good relationship with the koala residents of Southern Island, including the members of the Coconut Crew, whom she has personally known since she was "only an ankle biter," though she has not seen many of them in years. Unlike Marine's other friends, the residents have managed to overlook Marine's flaws and knows she means well. In addition to Tabby and Daikun, Marine is best buddies with Colonel. There is also Kylok, who affectionately calls Marine a "little runt" and knows much about her, including her dreams and secret fear of ghosts, suggesting they are especially close.

Captain Whiskers
One of the first foes Marine made for herself was Captain Whisker, who she often referred to as "fuzzy-face." Even before meeting him, Marine believed Whisker sent their robots after her and her friends because he was jealous of her adventures. When they finally met, Marine earned Whisker's personal resentment when she pulled his mustache out of curiosity. While Marine knew of Whisker's maliciousness, she held no fear of his dangerous nature (possibly out of obliviousness) when she and her friends sought to stop him, and even found him funny. When later being called a nuisance, Marine thought she could prove herself by stopping Whisker herself, but only got herself captured by the pirate and had to be saved.

Johnny
Marine has a strange competitive relationship with Johnny. When they first met, Marine wanted him to race her, only to be brushed aside. Marine thus thought he was afraid of losing to her, provoking Johnny into challenging her. However, Marine answered to his challenge by having Sonic race in her stead.

Friends/allies

 * Blaze the Cat
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Coconut Crew
 * Tabby
 * Colonel
 * Daikun
 * Kylok
 * Norman

Enemies

 * Pirates
 * Captain Whisker
 * Johnny
 * Mini & Mum
 * Dr. Eggman Nega
 * Dr. Eggman

Archie Comics
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Marine first appeared during the comics' adaptation of Sonic Rush Adventure where she helped Sonic, Tails and Blaze recover a Chaos Emerald from Captain Whisker, Johnny and Dr. Nega. Months later, she and Blaze rescued Shadow the Hedgehog from the ocean, who they teamed up with to battle an incarnation of Metal Sonic, and later help him return to his home dimension.

Following the events of Worlds Collide, Marine became virtually indistinguishable from her game counterpart. During the subsequent Pirate Plunder Panic arc, Marine and Blaze teamed up with Blaze's friends from Sonic's World, namely Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit. Having formed into Team Rose the companions did battle with the evil Captain Metal and his crew of pirates to reclaim a Sol Emerald.

Theme Song
The theme song of Marine is "A New Venture" from Sonic Rush Adventure.

Trivia

 * Marine's pigtails are shaped like boomerangs, relating to her Australian accent.
 * Marine often uses the word "strewth" in her sentences. In the real world in British English, "strewth" means "God's truth". In Australia and New Zealand it can also be used as an expression of surprise, or to add emphasis.
 * On Sonic Channel, when asked about her weight, Marine responds "Hey! I don't hear such questions!" unlike most other female characters who simply says "Secret."
 * Based on the stats of the Marine costume in Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Marine may be classified as a Speed Type character.
 * Marine's name is featured on the Chao in Space 2 Perfect: Chaos Strikes Back billboard in Sonic Generations.
 * Sticks the Badger bears a heavy resemblance to Marine. As a result, many fans initially thought Sticks was an incarnation of Marine for the Sonic Boom series, before it was confirmed that Sticks was a new character.