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Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity. |
Horizont-Al,[2] or just Al[3] for short, is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. He is a Zone-Imp[1] who lived in the Unknown Zone with Verti-Cal until he was imprisoned in the Zone Jail.
Appearance[]
Horizont-Al is a short, humanoid zone-imp with conjoined eyeballs, green eyes (which were formerly black), and blonde (formerly white) hair on his head which is combed to the sides. For attire, he originally wore a pair of purple boots, a purple shirt with two white horizontally facing arrows on it, a pair of red and green striped pants, and a green and yellow striped hat. Following his imprisonment in the Zone Jail, he would replace his shirt and pants with an orange jumpsuit, and replace his hat with a similar one including red stripes. In his mechanical form, Al is much more flat and metallic, possessing a gray spiked body with short blue legs, orange eyes, and an array of cannons.[1][4][5][3]
History[]
Vertigo A´ Go-Go![]
Horizont-Al originally lived in the Unknown Zone with his friend Verti-Cal. When Sonic was teleported to their Zone by a group of Power Rings, Al and Cal greeted him, despite the hedgehog initially mistaking them for minions of Robotnik. Al and Cal subsequently bid Sonic farewell when he was pushed out of the zone by its nonsensical physics.[3] Some time later, Al and Cal would play a game of baseball with each other.[6]
Opposites Detract[]
Cal and Al fighting in their robotic forms, from Sonic the Hedgehog #59.
Following the activation of the Ultimate Annihilator, Al and Cal's Zone was decimated to a microscopic level by the omega wave, altering both of them in the process into mechanical demi-gods. Their new forms also caused the hostility between them to grow, with each blaming the other for allowing the Zone to be decimated. This culminated in Al and Cal constantly fighting each other with their powers. Eventually, Sonic and Tails were accidentally sucked into the Zone by a portal on Mobius, and were immediately stunned by a blast for Horizont-Al. Realizing their use, Al and Cal agreed to take control of Sonic and Tails' minds, equip them with armor and spears, and use them as pawns to fight their war for them, with Al taking control of Tails, and Cal taking control of Sonic respectively. Although the battle originally appeared evenly matched, Sonic gained the upper hand, and would have destroyed Tails for Cal, had he not broken Al's control by remembering his friendship with Tails. Sonic attempted to convince Al and Cal into living peacefully again, which they briefly considered, only to continue with their destructive war. Believing them to be a lost cause, Sonic and Tails left the Unknown Zone through the portal.[2]
Inside Job[]
Al and Cal comforting Scourge, from Sonic Universe #29.
Al and Cal's war would eventually start damaging other zones, prompting the Zone Cops to hunt them down, and return them to their regular forms with Control Collars. Al and Cal would then be brought to the Zone Jail, where they were frequently beat up by the guards and other inmates there. Eventually, Scourge the Hedgehog was imprisoned in the Zone Jail, which led to the inmates bullying Al and Cal less in favor of him. Despite Scourge's hostility towards them, Al and Cal kept him company, and shared their meals with him to cheer him up. They would also help him back up after he was attacked by other inmates. Scourge would later stop Jeffrey St. Croix from abusing Al and Cal, but only as an excuse to beat him up, and not out of fondness for the duo. When Scourge and his Destructix opened all the cells in the Zone Jail, Al and Cal were brought to him by Predator Hawk, as Scourge had ordered. Scourge had Sergeant Simian destroy their Control Collars, despite them pleading him not to, transforming them back into their mechanical forms. Al and Cal then let out their pent-up rage over being abused by the guards and other inmates and went on a rampage through the prison, but were reverted to their normal forms by the Zone Cops' F.O.E. Inhibitors. Once again captured, Al and Cal begged Scourge not to leave them behind, as they had been the only prisoners that treated him kindly. However, Scourge cared nothing for them, and escaped through a Warp Ring with his team, abandoning them to their fate.[4][7][8][5]
Personality[]
Normally, Horizont-Al is a cheerful, fun-loving individual who spent all his time playing games with Verti-Cal. Horizont-Al is kind and helpful to others, although he is also cowardly and slightly selfish, as he does not attempt helping others if doing so would put him in danger, claiming that he prefers to sympathize rather than needing to heal. Even when being attacked, Al, shows no hostility towards others. However, Al features a split personality of sorts between his regular and robotic forms, as evidenced when he begged Scourge not to make him revert to that form by removing his Control Collar. In his robotic form, Al is much more serious and extremely aggressive and vindictive, desiring to destroy anyone who has wronged him. In his robotic form, Al possesses a lack of empathy, caring nothing for any innocent lives that could be lost in the crossfire of his war with Cal, and putting Sonic and Tails under mind control and using them as pawns to settle his feud with Cal. He is also sadistic, claiming that forcing Sonic and Tails fight each other to the death would be “amusing”. Cal’s robotic form is also very arrogant, boasting of his incredible power and claiming that all life forms besides him and Al are their “geometric inferiors”. However, Cal’s robotic form still possesses some restraint and sense of friendship, momentarily considering making peace with Al when persuaded by Sonic and Tails, though he decided against it, and later putting aside his grudge with Al and joining forces with him to get revenge on the Zone Jail guards and inmates who had abused them both, and not attacking Scourge when they went on their rampage.
Powers and abilities[]
Horizont-Al is nigh-omnipotent and possesses the ability to manipulate reality in his home zone, the Unknown Zone, though it is unknown if he can manipulate reality in other zones as well, but, considering that he and Al travelled to Mobius Prime at least on two occasions, it's very likely that he can. Al’s control over reality allows him to manipulate the laws of physics, manipulate gravity in a Zone with no such thing existing and manipulate matter, such as turning a platform into quicksand or creating objects out of thin air, such as armor and a metal spear. He can also levitate in the air and put other beings under mind control, though strong-willed beings can break free from his control. Al possesses an impressive healing factor, able to eventually regenerate his entire body from total annihilation via his Ethereal Essence. Al can also shapeshift into a giant robot. In his robot form, Al possesses great strength and durability due to his size and metallic body, able to withstand being punched by Verti-Cal's robot form and blasted by one of Verti-Cal’s energy beams. Al‘s robot form also has laser cannons which can fire powerful energy beams, and jets which allow him to fly.
Al is a monstrously powerful being, mere side effects of his and Cal's battle threatened existence of unknown amount of other Zones, which are entire universes, Al's robot form might be the result of Al's body adapting to his destruction by Ultimate Annihilator, giving him a better protection, body also seem to evolve even further, as in Zone Jail he and Cal reappear in far more detailed and menacing forms than what they appeared in before, with Al himself even gaining a new laser cannon instead of standard double barrel one he used before, indicating them getting stronger.
Horizont-Al is also stated to be Extra-dimensional, meaning he exists in 4 or 5 spatial dimensions compared to standard 3, which makes him infinitely superior to almost anything in lower dimensions.
Weaknesses[]
Al becomes powerless if restrained by a Control Collar or F.O.E. Inhibitor.[4][5]
Relationships[]
Friends/allies[]
- Destructix
- Fiona Fox
- Predator Hawk
- Sergeant Simian
- Scourge the Hedgehog (to a degree)
- Verti-Cal (best friend)
Neutral[]
Enemies[]
Trivia[]
- Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal are both a nod to the character Mister Mxyzptlk from the Superman comics. Just like him, they are small, annoying creatures from another dimension who resemble humans and display the power to warp reality. Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal being zone-imps and existing on higher dimension further references Mxyzptlk, who is called a fifth-dimensional imp.
- Al and Cal are first characters to appear in the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic series who are not based on a character from the games or the Sonic the Hedgehog television series.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sonic the Hedgehog Archives Vol. 16, "Who's Who profiles: Al & Cal"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sonic the Hedgehog #59, "Opposites Detract"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sonic the Hedgehog #2, "Vertigo A´ Go-Go!"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Sonic Universe #29, "Inside Job Part One: Rock Bottom"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sonic Universe #32, "Inside Job Part Four: No Holds Barred"
- ↑ Sonic the Hedgehog #4, "Horizont-Al & Verti-Cal"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #30, "Inside Job Part Two: Any Port in a Storm"
- ↑ Sonic Universe #31, "Inside Job Part Three: Setting the Stage"
External links[]
- Verti-Cal and Horizont-Al at Mobius Encyclopaedia, the Archie Sonic wiki.