Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 51 is the fifty-first issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics.
Official solicitation[]
Reality Bytes[]
- You are cordially invited to the celebration of a lifetime- The Knothole Victory Party! The victory celebration begins! Let the festivities get underway! Now that Robotnik has been defeated, everyone can feel safe and secure... or can they? Sonic doesn't seem to think so when everyone he knows and loves and is near and dear to him gets roboticized by a hidden enemy. What does this mean? Who's behind this latest attack? Is Dr. Robotnik really gone or has someone else taken over?
Featured stories[]
Reality Bytes[]
- Writer & Colors: Karl Bollers
- Pencils: Sam Maxwell
- Inks: Andrew Pepoy
- Letters: Jeff Powell
- Editor: Justin Freddy Gabrie
- Managing Editor: Victor Gorelick
- Editor-in-Chief: Richard Goldwater
Synopsis[]
Part 1[]
The night after Dr. Robotnik's defeat, Sally celebrates along with the rest of the Freedom Fighters and congratulates Sonic for defeating Dr. Robotnik. Sonic thanks her for the celebration, but asks why they are not celebrating with the rest of the village. Sally presents Sonic with a gift, which Sonic opens to be a bravery medal. Sonic thanks everyone for the victory bash.
Later that night, Sonic is asleep in his room, when Sally attempts to wake Sonic up. Thinking Sonic is still weary from the festivities, Nicole advises Sally that he might not be fit for the secret mission. Sonic wakes up asking about the mission, but Sally tells Sonic to be quiet and takes him on his secret mission. Sally takes Sonic up to the Great Forest, and Sonic asks Sally why she has been so quiet. Sally's eyes change red, and she reveals that his secret mission is not so secret after all. Suddenly, Sonic is surrounded by Robotnik's Combots. Sonic avoids their attacks and runs away while Sally changes into a robotic form and yells that Knothole Village will belong to Dr. Robotnik. Sonic runs to warn the others, but is still confused because Robotnik is supposed to be dead.
Part 2[]
Sonic heads back to Knothole and is grabbed by Tails, who flies him away from the Combots. Sonic tells Tails what has been happening, when a hologram of Uncle Chuck appears and then disappears. Sonic wonders what it was, when a Buzzbomber begins chasing them. Sonic then notices a Crabmeat on the forest floor. Tails then drops Sonic down towards Crabmeat. Sonic tries to think of a plan before he goes splat; Sonic lands on the ground with a bang. Tails in a robotic form asks where Sonic has gone. Soon, the smoke clears that Sonic has gone underground towards Knothole. Sonic spins through the ground, where the vision of Uncle Chuck appears again. Thinking that it is a trick, Sonic refuses to look at it and keeps moving forward.
Part 3[]
Sonic emerges near the hot spring, where Bunnie lies injured. Bunnie tells Sonic that everyone has gone screwy. Sonic helps her up as Bunnie explains that a holographic image of Uncle Chuck attacked her. Sonic then realizes that he saw the projection, and it could not have attacked Bunnie a minute ago. Sonic does not fall for Bunnie's tricks and her eyes turn red, she fixes her leg and attacks Sonic. Sonic runs out of the way of her attack and notices a Power Ring. Sonic tries to pull the Power Ring from the water, but it does not move. Bunnie appears again and transforms into a robotic form and prepares to attack again. Sonic runs away from her and heads towards Knothole.
Minutes later, Sonic runs down the Great Oak Slide towards Knothole, when the hologram of Uncle Chuck appears again. The hologram begins to talk, but in gibberish. Sonic tries to read through Uncle Chuck's chatting and thinks he is trying to warn him about something. Sonic then thinks that he's saying not to go to Knothole, but arrives too late.
Part 4[]
Sonic arrives in Knothole to find Dr. Robotnik with Cluck, the roboticized Freedom Fighters, and Combots. Robotnik brags that Knothole is finally his and Sonic is now his captive. He then asks Sonic how he feels to have "an egg in his face." Sonic says that his plan will not work, and his bad puns will not help either. Robotnik gives him a dose of reality that all his friends have been roboticized and all of the Power Rings are now his. Tails, Sally, Bunnie, and Robotnik then ask Sonic to join them. Sonic goes over what has happened and sees flashbacks of him with his friends and the realizes that something just is not real. Sonic sees the hologram of Uncle Chuck again, as Robotnik and his robots disappear.
Sonic wakes up in his bed with a a device around his head, and Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, Tails, Muttski, Sally, and Uncle Chuck watching. Sally tells Uncle Chuck that Sonic has woken up. Sonic wonders what he has doing with the device on his head. Uncle Chuck explains that his bravery award was booby-trapped with an artificial virus and threw Sonic into a virtual reality nightmare. He then explains further that if he had given into Robotnik's wishes, he would have been trapped in virtual reality forever. He then states that the holographic image as him trying to warn Sonic. Sonic gets up from his bed and finds it impressive of Robotnik trying to get him from beyond the grave. Uncle Chuck then says that it looks like Robotnik had nothing to do with this. Sonic and his friends wonder who was behind it all.
Appearances[]
Characters:
- Badnik Horde (fantasy)
- Buzzbomber (fantasy)
- Cluck (fantasy)
- Combot (fantasy)
- Crabmeat (fantasy)
- Dr. Ivo Robotnik (fantasy)
- Knothole Freedom Fighters
- Muttski
Races and species:
- Mobian
- Mobini
- Overlander (fantasy)
Locations:
Items:
- Chili dog (flashback)
- Power Ring (fantasy)
- Sonic's sneakers
Misc.:
- Roboticization (fantasy)
- Propeller Flying (fantasy)
- Sonic Spin (fantasy)
Trivia[]
- The production staff for this story was not featured due to an oversight. The credits for this story are featured in the letters section of Sonic the Hedgehog #52 instead.
- “Reality Bytes" was initially intended to be the beginning of a overarching story arc, during which it would be revealed that the Sally Sonic revived in Sonic the Hedgehog #50 was an Auto Automaton, which in turn would reveal that it was she who planted the dream device on Sonic's medal in this story, and that the true Sally had indeed died in Sonic the Hedgehog #47. However, Sega decided that Sally would survive, leaving the arc to be abandoned.
- This story is the first one to show that Sonic sleeps in a car-shaped bed. This bed would become a mainstay in future issues.
- The origin of the "artificial virus" in Sonic's medal was never directly addressed later in the series, although it was stated in the letters page of Sonic the Hedgehog #82 that the virtual reality medal was provided by Robo-Robotnik.
Other features[]
- Sonic Fan Art
- The "Find Your Name In Print Page"
- Sonic-Grams
Quotes[]
- Sonic: Hey, slow down! No habla gibberish!
Trivia[]
- Bean and Bark make a cameo appearances on this issue's cover, marking their second non-canon cameo appearance before their official debut in Sonic the Hedgehog #160.
- Astal once again appears in a cameo alongside Bean and Bark.
- This is the last issue to feature a Sonic X-treme-themed order form while Sonic the Hedgehog #44 (which also features a Sonic X-treme-related question on its Sonic-Grams page) is the first.
Gallery[]
Preview pages[]
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External links[]
- Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 51 at Mobius Encyclopaedia, the Archie Sonic wiki.
- Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 51 at Sonic Retro