Cream the Rabbit (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)


 * For the version of this character after the Super Genesis Wave, see Cream the Rabbit (Archie).

"I'm so terribly sorry! That was so rude of me!"

- Cream the Rabbit, Sonic Universe #21

Cream the Rabbit is a protagonist in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. She is a young Mobian rabbit who originally lived with her mother, Vanilla, in the Southern Baronies. She enjoyed the company of the Chao that live near her home until their Chao Garden got the attention of Snively Robotnik who came to claim it. After her home was destroyed, Amy Rose insisted on both Cream and Vanilla relocating to New Mobotropolis and Cream agreed to come along, feeling she had got a life-long friend in Amy. It did not take long for Cream to show her heroic side, and soon became a member of the Team Freedom, so that she could do her part to protect her new home and it's people. Cream is constantly accompanied by one of the Chao, whom she has given a red bowtie and the name Cheese.

Appearance
Cream is a small lop-eared rabbit with cream fur and brown eyes. She has orange/light brown markings around her eyes, on her head and at the ends of her ears. She wears a simple red/orange dress with a white collar and blue cravat, white gloves with gold cufflinks, and orange and yellow shoes. Her ears are usually swiveled back and flop behind her head. Her tail has sometimes been miscolored white.

Early life and Welcome Back, Chao!
Cream and her mother lived in a mansion on their plantation in the Southern Baronies, which was also home to a Chao Garden where she became good friends with the Chao, and named one Cheese. Cheese became Cream's constant companion, and Cream gifted him with a red bowtie. The Rabbit family took it upon themselves to watch over the gentle creatures and help them grow up in peace and safety. Eventually, however, Snively Robotnik tracked an energy source from the Chao Garden at their home and came to claim it for the Eggman Empire. As Cream tried to herd the Chao into the house's cellar, Amy Rose arrived and started knocking Snively's mech around. Wanting to help save the Chao, Cream then flew her over top the mech's cockpit despite Vanilla's concerns for her safety, whereupon Amy caused it to crash onto Cream's house. Cream became upset afterwards because the Chao had no place to live while she and Vanilla had to move to New Mobotropolis, and wanted to stay until Amy realized some of the Chao had lived in Knothole before its destruction. To the delight of Cream, Amy had Nicole set up the Lake of Rings in New Mobotropolis as a new Chao Garden, and Cream was happy to relocate to the city with her old friends and her newest one.

Treasure Team Tango
While Cream and her mother were being given a tour of the Freedom HQ by Amy, Nicole reported a strange energy reading and Vanilla allowed Cream to go with Amy to investigate. Cream was delighted to be on an adventure, but found it unfortunate that Freedom HQ was located in an "ugly" area as Amy explained what happened during the destruction of Knothole. They were soon attacked by Blaze the Cat, and Amy fought with her until Cream showed they had been after a broken glass bottle. Cream then chased after the mortified Blaze, seeing she was troubled, and got her to explain she was seeking a Sol Emerald. Cream and Amy then offered to help and Blaze followed them as Nicole tracked the signal into the Great Forest, where they were joined by Rouge the Bat, who overheard them talking. Coming to a deep ravine, Cream flew Amy to the bottom and prepared to deal with dead tree branch that broke off towards them in mid-flight until Blaze and Rouge destroyed it first. The group finally found the Sol Emerald inside a root cavern, at which point Rouge attempted to steal the emerald, shocking Cream at her utter dishonesty as she attempted to confront Rouge with the others, only for her to nearly be knocked aside by the bat.

Cream found herself facing more trouble when Rouge called in Shadow the Hedgehog and E-123 Omega for backup and everyone soon scrambled for the Sol Emerald. Cream recovered it at one point, eventually getting the emerald into Cheese's grasp, and ordered him to flee. When Team Dark tried to force another Sol Emerald from Blaze, it lead to a fiery explosion that gave Team Rose the opportunity to escape. Cream flew ahead to find Cheese, horrified to see him captured by Team Hooligan and became a prisoner herself until Blaze gave chase to Nack's fleeing bike and rescued her. By then, Team Dark arrived and incapacitated Amy and Blaze, leaving Cream to try rescuing them alone until she was grabbed by Omega and broke down that they no longer had the Emerald. Eventually, the two groups teamed up to track down Nack, Bean, and Bark before they got away, and Cream and Cheese sat in the sidecar of Shadows' bike with Omega, trying to make friends with the killer robot who deemed Cream "too cute to eviscerate" - a word she did not understand. After a while, the group found not only Team Hooligan but the Babylon Rogues as well. While Cream was all for their combined group working together to take out the thieves, she was saddened when Amy confided with her and Blaze that Rouge would likely betray them again, and entered a four-way scramble for the Sol Emerald.

As the battle began, Cream hung back and watched in worry of knowing her mother would not want her involved. Seeing how bravely her friends fought and remembering their promise to help Blaze, she resolved it was the right thing to do and dropped onto Nack's head before he could shoot Amy. Cream avoided the more intense fighting, but did what she could to help, apologizing while she jumped onto Storm's shoulders and made him to crash into Wave and Shadow. Eventually, Teams Rose and Dark decided to corral the other two teams together, and Cream gently led a distraught Bean by the hand to go see his friends. Once the thieves were all assembled, Blaze caused Bean's bomb to explode on them, making them give up the chase and leave. Once the Sol Emerald was finally returned to Blaze, Cream bade a tearful farewell to her and Team Dark as they departed. Back at Freedom HQ later, Cream told Vanilla about their day, oblivious that her mother was shaken at how their investigation had turned out. Amy believed Cream handled herself well regardless and had the potential be a great Freedom Fighter one day.

Genesis and aftermath
Cream and her mother settled into a fairly peaceful life in New Mobotropolis, though it was soon disrupted when Ixis Naugus attempted to sway the people into accepting him as their new king, followed by Dr. Eggman's attack with the Death Egg Mark 2. Cream was then caught up-along with the rest of Mobius-in the effects of the Genesis Wave. This created an altered reality, one in which Cream was the cousin of Bunnie D'Coolette. However, this relationship ceased when Super Sonic reversed the effects of Operation: Clean Sweep.

When the Death Egg sent Titan Metal Sonic to destroy the city, Cream hid behind Big, trying to reassure her mother that the Freedom Fighters would protect them. Cream soon saw Bunnie fall from battle due to crossfire of an over-zealous attack by Naugus, and rushed to where she lay unconscious, pulling her to safety as debris rained down. While Vanilla and Big the Cat took Bunnie to Dr. Quack, Cream went to recover Bunnie's crystallized hat, and found a strange doll among the rubble. Thinking someone dropped it, Cream took the doll with her as she found Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy, Tails, Antoine D'Coolette and Geoffrey St. John returning to the city, urging them to check on Bunnie and then waited for more details at the hospital.

Team Freedom
After the Knothole Freedom Fighters dissolved, Cream volunteered herself and Cheese for Rotor's Team Freedom to help protect New Mobotropolis from incoming threats, Vanilla giving her permission to join as she believed Cream would still be safe. During the team's debut at the community center, part of the building strangely gave away, and Cream lifted out people trapped on the upper floors while the others stopped its fall, preventing a disaster while winning public support. Later she joined the team in defending New Mobotropolis from a force of Egg Swats accompanied by Team Metal, and found herself frightened but protected by new friend and teammate Big the Cat. Insisting on helping despite her fear, she was sent by Rotor to gather up civilians and lead them to safety. She and her teammates soon celebrated their victory, unaware that they had been assisted from the shadows by the Secret Freedom Fighters. Ever helpful, Cream next provided assistance to the Council of Acorn by locating the missing copy of the constitution that they were meeting to ratify, finding it by Penelope Platypus' desk.

Cream subsequently attended a concert by Mina Mongoose with her mother and the rest of Team Freedom, and once again misplaced the Tails Doll. As she questioned her mother about it, the robot crawled underneath Mina's stage and let off an energy burst that caused it to collapse. Cream and Cheese quickly flew into action alongside their teammates, saving the Forget Me Knots and some of their equipment. The group was then praised by Mina, who also called for Nicole's return to the city, and cheered by the citizens. Later, the group also attended the unveiling of the rebuilt Castle Acorn, only for it to start falling apart as had the stage. Cheese then brought Tails Doll to Cream, who got angry because of the doll's tendency to disappear-and then realized that the doll's presence or absence had been a factor in the recent collapses. Having Cheese take the doll home, she approached Rotor with her theory, which led to Team Freedom laying a trap for their suspect. After leaving the doll at home and informing her mother that she would be out all day, she secretly followed it as it left the house and went to the power station, where the rest of Team Freedom and NICOLE were lying in wait. Unfortunately, Tails Doll proceeded to transform into a monstrous creature intent on destroying the city and its protectors. However, Mobius was then hit by the effects of the second Genesis Wave, reshaping all of reality.
 * Note: From this point, Cream's history continues from her new life in the altered timeline.

Personality
Cream was taught at a young age the importance of manners. She is a polite, considerate, and brave little girl, yet also very fun-loving and child-like. Unlike her mother, she is very enthusiastic about meeting new people and seeing new places. Even with her mother's lessons in manners, she can still be a bit forward, but is quick to apologize. Because of her emphasis on the importance of politeness and manners, she has a low tolerance for rudeness; even the thought of others being dishonest can cause her dismay, but she becomes especially upset - even angry - when Chao are being mistreated. While she looks to Amy to teach her how to help others and stand for what's right, she also hopes to pass along some of her more ladylike qualities to the hedgehog.

While young, Cream is also quite astute, able to recognize the correlation between events that would seem to be unrelated.

Powers and abilities
Using her lop rabbit ears, Cream is able to fly high off the ground, and the amount of strength she uses enables her to carry loads larger than herself (such as Amy and her Piko Piko Hammer).

Friends/Allies

 * Cheese
 * Team Rose
 * Amy
 * Blaze
 * Freedom Fighters
 * Sonic
 * Tails
 * Sally
 * Nicole
 * Bunnie
 * Antoine
 * Team Freedom
 * Rotor
 * Big
 * Heavy
 * Bomb
 * Secret Freedom Fighters
 * Team Dark
 * Shadow
 * Rouge
 * Omega

Enemies

 * Eggman Empire
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Snively
 * Metal Sonic
 * Badnik Horde
 * Tails Doll
 * Babylon Rogues
 * Jet
 * Wave
 * Wave
 * Team Hooligan
 * Bean
 * Bark
 * Nack
 * Ixis Naugus

Trivia

 * Cream and her friendship with Cheese are a pun on "cream cheese," while her relationship with her mother is a pun of "vanilla cream." Vanilla, Cream and Cheese are all names that involve some sort of dessert.
 * Cream's association with Sonic X is a large part of the reason why she did not appear in the main Sonic the Hedgehog title for so long, as Sega did not want to mix elements from the two franchises; it took Archie Comics about two years of negotiation before being given the rights to use Cream.
 * Cream is one of the only Sega characters in the comic whose parent originates from the video games, in contrast to the other Sega characters whose parents where created for and have appeared exclusively in the comic. She shares this trait with Shadow the Hedgehog (created by Professor Gerald Robotnik using the Black Arms' DNA), Rouge the Bat (she mentioned "her mama" in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood), Tikal (she was Pachacamac's daughter), Jet the Hawk (who had a father) and Wave the Swallow (who had a father).
 * Cream (and Cheese) is the only character to appear on all covers of the Treasure Team Tango arc.
 * Sonic Universe #5 featured two Rabbit characters on Light Mobius who resembled Cream and her mother Vanilla.