Sticks the Badger

"You can doubt me, but I'll protect you anyway because I'm a good friend and because it distracts me from the government agents that are replacing my plants with violins."

- Sticks the Badger

Sticks the Badger is one of the main characters in the Sonic Boom series. She is an anthropomorphic jungle badger and a force of nature in every way. She has spent most of her life living alone and flourishing in the wilderness and is as such new to friends in general. After meeting Team Sonic, however, she forms a strong bond with the group, particularly with Amy Rose.

Concept and Creation
According to Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Chief Content Officer for the Sonic Brand, Sega of America, "Sticks is a significant addition to the Sonic Boom universe and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise" and is meant to form the core ensemble featured throughout the Sonic Boom franchise alongside Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles. She is meant to bring a quirky personality and perspective to the team dynamic and her character adds an endless amount of humor and surprise to the Sonic Team.

Early artwork of Sticks shows she was supposed to have white sports tape for her hair locks and only have one eyelash. The sports tape was eventually changed to auburn strings and she ended up having two eyelashes.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
Sticks appeared a non playable character in the Wii U version of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric at Bygone Island. If interacted with, Sticks will tell the player that if they could find Shinies, she will exchange them for Crowns. She was then last seen at the village, taking an item and thanking them for their help.

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
In Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Sticks entered a ravine for the purpose of "gettin' info from the rocks" where she was caught in a rockslide, but was saved by Sonic, Tails and Knuckles and Amy. Back on safe ground, Sticks told her friends that an underground army would rise and destroy them all, but was met with severe skepticism. Later on, Sticks teamed up with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to track down and save Amy who had been kidnapped by Lyric and his robot army, who sought to use her archaeological knowledge to find a Lost Crystal of Power and seize unlimited power.

TV Series
When Sticks and her friends visited Tails' house, they discovered that Sonic and Tails were letting Dr. Eggman, Orbot and Cubot stay here while their lair underwent repairs. Sticks however, believed it was an evil plot by the doctor to destroy them with an "Obliteratorbot". Though her paranoia was dismissed, Sticks' fears were confirmed two days later, after Eggman had kept Sonic and Tails up all night and exhausted them, where Eggman revealed he lied about his lair to exhaust Sonic and Tails, and summoned his Obliteratorbot to destroy them, as Sticks predicted. However, the robot got Eggman's orders wrong and attacked his lair instead. Convinced by Eggman to help them, Sticks and her team got to the lair where she, Knuckles and Amy distracted Obliteratorbot long enough for the others to reach its kill switches, though they were too late to save the lair.

As Sticks was relaxing with Sonic, Amy and Knuckles on the beach, Tails came and demonstrated his invention UT, a robot capable of translating any language, to them. However, tension was created between Sticks and the team when UT translated their private thoughts from the subtext of their speech. The next day, Tails and UT came back where the robot "translated" their comments into insults. As every began fighting, Tails learned this UT was a fake send by Eggman to tear the team apart. However, Sticks and the others did not come with Tails on his mission to save the real UT, thinking UT was too troublesome. Later, UT returned to Sticks and the others with a message from Tails and translated it into a call to rescue Tails from Eggman's lair. Sticks and the team soon got to Eggman's lair where they freed Tails and defeated Eggman's guard robot. While the rest of her team liked UT now, Sticks did not and threw it into the sea.

When Eggman attacked the local village with his Anti-fire Bot, Team Sonic came and put a end to it. After the mission though, Sticks showed a kitten ill treatment which made her team-mates convince her to get a pet to learn compassion. While out finding a pet with Sonic, Sticks chose a disgusting robo-dog who she named Buster. While Sticks loved her new pet, Buster was an annoyance to her other friends. After Buster ruined the team's chances to stop Orbot and Cubot from robbing a warehouse, they tried to make Sticks get rid of Buster, but she refused. Eggman then came by with a gift for Buster and revealed he created the robo-dog. However, Eggman's gift turned Buster into a large robot that caught everyone except Sticks, but Sticks managed to assume control over Buster and had him release her friends and get rid of Eggman. Knowing though that Buster was too dangerous, Sticks released Buster after a heartfelt goodbye.

Coming to the village with her team, Sticks saw that meteors were raining down on them. Using a defense system she had prepared for this occasion though, she saved the village. Later, Sticks got a letter that said she was nominated for an Awardy Award for saving the town. However, Sticks did not want to go to such an elegant event, fearing she would embarrass herself with her feral behavior, until Amy promised to teach her to be a lady. With Sonic as her escort, Sticks managed to get the basics down from Amy's lessons. At the gala, Sticks got a good start, but still struggled despite her attempts. When it was time for the award however, Sticks met Eggman who was also a nominee (by cheating). When Eggman did not get the award and retaliated with his robots in vengeance, Sticks refused to fight as "a lady doesn't fight." After her friends got caught however, Sticks snapped, dropped her composure and managed to free her friends and drive Eggman off. With the gala saved, Sticks took the Award Award from the winner Leroy and agreed to teach Amy to listen to her instincts.

While Sticks was helping Amy with a decorative lunch for their team, they were met by Dr. Eggman who wanted to hire Amy to redecorate his lair for Modern Lair Magazine. To Sticks' shock however, Amy agreed, feeling unappreciated for her designing skills by the others. Eventually, Sticks and the others began to miss Amy and they went to Eggman's lair to check up on her. There, Eggman claimed Amy wanted to stay with him, but Sticks and the others did not believe it and broke into the lair where they got Amy out of a cage and she made peace with the others. Team Sonic then trashed Eggman's lair and his robots on their way out, which resulted in Eggman not getting a place in Modern Lair Magazine.

During a visit to Sonic's shack, Sticks found a batch of cookies and ate one. However, it turned out to be an evil cookies made by Eggman which turned Sticks into a clone of Eggman. Now evil, Knuckles joined Tails, Knuckles and Amy (who had also eaten the evil cookies) under Eggman's tutelage where they plotted Sonic's destruction. When Sonic came to save them, Sticks and the rest cornered him. However, they then began fighting over who deserved the honor for capturing Sonic. During the fight, Sticks and the others were returned to normal by Sonic and Eggman (who Sonic turned good with a cookie containing his DNA). Eggman now thought they would work together, but Team Sonic did not like the idea, so Sticks restored the doctor to normal.

Archie Comics
While her friends were fighting Dr. Eggman Sticks saw a "cyborg rock golem" rise up from underground beneath Tails' house and left with the whole house on top of it. In panic, Sticks hurried out and found Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy and told them that Tails' house had been "robbed". However, it was first when Sticks brought her friends to the former site of Tails' house that they understand what she meant and she explained what had happened to the house.

While her friends tried to make a plan, Sticks found the Rock-cyborg's footprints and began following them while sniffing the grass out of enjoinment (which gave the others the impression that she had picked up the robot's scent). When she finally cleared up the misunderstanding though, she had lead the whole group to the Rock-cyborg. There, Sticks climbed up on the top of the Rock-cyborg to check Tails' gutters for "illegal wire taps" as Sonic was leading it into an ambush. There, she met Tails who told her to get to safety, but she believed she would be safer up here. As Amy and Knuckles crippled the Rock-cyborg, Sticks and Tails struck it from behind and made it fall, giving Sonic the chance to destroy it and bring Tails' house back on its foundation. With the battle over, Sticks was liking how the Rock-cyborg's remains adorned the surroundings.

Not long after, Sticks faced Dr. Eggman's Big Boy mech with Sonic, Tails and Amy. During the battle, Knuckles attacked and trapped his own team, claiming he worked with Eggman now because he got tired of Amy criticizing him. Sticks however, got ahead of Knuckles and trapped herself in her own cage. Sticks and the other were then loaded into the Big Boy's cargo hold, where Knuckles revealed to them that he was faking being Eggman's ally to fool the doctor. Once Knuckles left to defeat Eggman (after Amy and Tails convinced him that his plan was brilliant despite its flaws), Sticks freed Sonic who in turn broke them out of the Big Boy as Knuckles made it retreat. Shortly after the team took care of Orbot and Cubot though, Sticks found Amy in a panic over having lost her piko hammer.

Personality
Sticks is energetic and primal, like a wild animal. She has sharp animal instincts and is a fearsome combatant and tenacious hunter, and when angry she enters a feral frenzy. Because of her isolated life, Sticks has become a little quirky, eccentric and overall nutty, and she thinks others are living in an alternate world different from the normal one. In spite of her background, she is intelligent, though her manner of speaking comes off as strange and grammatically incorrect to other people as she speaks in a primitive dialect she taught herself.

As a result of her background, Sticks is far from civilized. She has no concept of edditet behavior, a fact she knows and worries will embarrass her in formal situations, and she is disgusted by anything cute, adorable and fuzzy. She loves spending time in her burrow and returns to it for safety when a situation becomes too bizarre for her. Like Tails, she is passionate about arts and crafts and makes things from what she finds in nature.

Because of her wildness, Sticks' social skills need plenty of work. She is not the most trusting individual and is full of outrageous suspicions and paranoia (which are always proven right), and senses danger everywhere at all times, which means that she is always stressed. As such, she has equipment prepared for even the oddest situations. While the concepts of sharing, compassion, and friendship are foreign to her, Sticks has a good heart and a genuine desire to get closer to Sonic and his friends, and is fiercely loyal to them. However, this also creates an internal struggle for her; on one hand she is not sure she can handle the life outside her burrow, but on the other hand she loves her friends and wants to hang out with them.

Powers and Abilities
Sticks possesses unparalleled and quite accurate animal instincts, along with extremely sharp survival skills and outstanding hunting skills. She is quite swift and agile, capable of dodging successive laser fire with little trouble.

In battle, Sticks is a great warrior due to her wild side. She has fearsomely great skills in combat and it is noted no one has to worry about her in battle, suggesting a high level of fighting skills. While she has skills in wielding weapons, she is most well-versed in the usage of boomerangs, being able to throw even a boomerang made from a ladle with such precision that it hit Dr. Eggman's wrist controller upon its return.

Sticks also has skills in crafting weapons, which is exemplified in the self-made weapons she uses.

Weapons
Sticks is armed with handmade weapons at all times, most notably a handmade boomerang that she keeps in tow. She uses her boomerang for not only long-ranged attacks, but also as a short-range melee weapon.

Amy Rose
Among her new friends, Sticks' best friend is Amy Rose, who is the one Sticks wants to get closer to the most. Amy helps Sticks adapt to civilization and in turn Sticks is willing to go to extremes to protect Amy. The two are also shown to work well together in combat.

Trivia

 * Sticks bears a very strong resemblance to Marine the Raccoon.
 * As such, many fans initially mistook Sticks as a supposed Sonic Boom incarnation of Marine before she was revealed to be a new character.
 * Sticks also bears a resemblance to Aika from Skies of Arcadia. Both characters have similar hairstyles and wield boomerangs as their main weapons.
 * Sticks is the only member of Sonic's crew to not wear sports tape.
 * However, her boomerang has sports tape on it.
 * Early concept artwork of her also depicted her having sports tape for hair bands.
 * Sticks is the only member of Team Sonic who does not wear any gloves.