Mr. Slate

Mr. Slate is a character that appears in the Sonic Boom television series. He is an anthropomorphic ox and a business tycoon who lives on Seaside Island. He is the owner of Meh Burger and other businesses in Hedgehog Village, including an archaeological dig site for some Ancient ruins outside the Village.

Concept and creation
Mr. Slate's name is a reference to Fred Flintstone's boss with the same name on the The Flintstones. He also gets his catchphrase "You're fired" from George Jetson's boss, Mr. Spacely, on The Jetsons.

Appearance
Mr. Slate is an anthropomorphic ox of average height. He has a slightly large and round torso and head, relatively thin arms and slightly stubby legs. He also has light brown fur with pale beige skin on his front torso and wide muzzle, a medium-sized black snout, almost cylinder-like ears, a pair of short black-tipped white horns, and brown eyes. Additionally, he has a smooth brown mustache and thick eyebrows. For attire he wears a black-blue suit with a white shirt and red tie, a black-blue dark-banded top hat, white gloves and black shoes with white gaiters.

Season one
Mr. Slate was one of the attendees at the Awardy Awards. There, he had an awkward moment when Sticks the Badger smelled him close up. When the award was being handed out, Mr. Slate had to flee as Dr. Eggman attacked everyone with his robots for not getting the award himself. Once Team Sonic took care of Eggman though, Mr. Slate returned to the gala. When T.W. Barker's Circus of Wonders then came to town, Mr. Slate paid it a visit.

Finding his dig site in pieces, Mr. Slate demanded an explanation from his employee Charlie. However, after Charlie's "friend" Knuckles talked back at him, Mr. Slate fired Charlie on the spot.

Season two
While at a town meeting, Mr. Slate learned that their village was named after Sticks' evil ancestor, Jebediah Badger. Eventually wanting the town renamed, Mr. Slate agreed to a referendum between Amy and Eggman's name propositions at another meeting. Getting enticed by Eggman's campaign, Mr. Slate showed up to vote. Afterwards, he paid a visit to the library. Mr. Slate later met Eggman, who convinced him to have Eggman's efficient robot employees run Meh Burger. Not wanting to get fired, Dave the Intern got Mr. Slate to let him prove his worth against one of the robots, only for Mr. Slate to fire Dave when he failed. At the reopening of the improved Meh Burger, however, Mr. Slate and the villagers got trapped in a force-field and sent towards space in the restaurant by Eggman. Thanks to Team Sonic and Dave though, Mr. Slate was rescued, along with Meh Burger. As thanks, he promoted Dave to manager of Meh Burger.

Personality
Mr. Slate is a very strict employer, seeing as he fired Charlie as soon as his associate talked back to him. He is not unreasonable though, as he will give his employees a chance to prove themselves when their jobs are at stake. He was initially convinced that he had a hard time personally firing people, but he has eventually realized that he actually enjoys it on some level.

While Mr. Slate has been willing to cut corners when it comes to running a business (as exemplified in Meh Burger's sub-standard management and products), he is not a dishonest man, and makes sure his businesses' code of conducts are kept well within their legal limits. When in a good mood, he has also proven himself quite generous and celebratory.

Trivia

 * Mr. Slate's character model is derived from Mike the Ox's.