Saffron Bee

This character exists primarily or exclusively within the Pre-Super Genesis Wave continuity. Information in this article may not be canonical to the storyline of the games or any other Sonic continuity.

Saffron Bee
Saffron Bee, from Sonic the Hedgehog #138.
Appearances
First appearance	Knuckles the Echidna #14
Biographical overview
Birthplace	Golden Hive Colony
Relative(s)	Charmy Bee (fiancé) King Bee (father-in-law) † Queen Bee (mother-in-law) † Princess Bee (sister-in-law) †
Nickname(s)	Lady Saffron Saffron the Bee
Species	Mobian/Bee
Physical description
Gender	Female
Fur	Yellow, black
Skin	Peach
Eyes	Blue
Attire	Pink dress with yellow flowers Brown bomber jacket White gloves Black bracelets Pink boots
Alignment and character traits
Alignment	Good
Affiliation(s)	Freedom Fighters Chaotix
Likes	Adventures Chaotix Charmy Flying Her nightopian plush Flowers
Dislikes	Dr. Eggman Violence
Powers and abilities
Skills	Flight Shrinking to bee size

Saffron Bee is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. She is a young mobian bee from the former Golden Hive Colony and is also one of Charmy Bee's earliest friends. She was also his fiancée, but Charmy fled from his family and friends to avoid his royal responsibilities.

Appearance

Saffron is a black-and-yellow striped mobian bee with blond hair (the front lifted into a high, curled bang), yellow-and-black striped antennae, translucent sky blue wings on her back, and blue eyes. She also has exposed peach skin on her muzzle and arms, and a tiny black nose.

For attire, she wears a brown bomber jacket with beige-furred accents and two small gray buttons on the left, a short pink dress with yellow flowers on the hem, pink boots with beige-furred cuffs and pompoms, and white gloves with black bracelets similar to Charmy's cuffs. She also wears a necklace or choker adorned with a bee emblem just like that on Charmy's vest.

History

Early life and Pre-Chaotix

Saffron was a childhood friend of Charmy Bee, residing in Golden Hive Colony. When confronted by his Acknowledgment Ceremony, Charmy decided to flee from his royal responsibilities. Saffron was unable to understand why Charmy was so upset, and, though she tried to help, Charmy ignored her and left. She remained alone for some time after Charmy fled to Angel Island. Almost a year later however, Charmy returned home and accepted his role as prince, as well as becoming Saffron's fiancé.

Months later, Charmy and Saffron found themselves meeting up with Charmy's friend Knuckles the Echidna, who at this point had evolved into Chaos Knuckles. They conversed for a bit till Nack the Weasel and his sister Nic showed up to capture Knuckles and threatened them both in order to make Knuckles cooperate. Upon realizing that the Weasels were gone (though Saffron suggested they go get help) they both immediately went to help Knuckles! Upon finding the place where he had been taken and seeing him in considerable pain Saffron and Charmy in their small forms they intervened and managed to do enough to stop them. The result was that Knuckles remained in his "green form", while Dr. Finitevus was transformed by the experience.

Joining the Chaotix

Following the attack of the Xorda, and the disappearance of Sonic the Eggman Empire began taking over numerous sections of Mobius In 3237, Eggman had his Egg Pawns attack Golden Hive Colony. The colony was overrun, forcing Charmy and Saffron to flee and take shelter in Knothole. It was at this point that Saffron joined the Chaotix when Charmy rejoined the group. Along with the Chaotix, Saffron participated in the liberation of a Dingo-run concentration camp, freeing numerous echidnas. Shortly afterwards, she remained behind to protect the Master Emerald while the rest of the Chaotix freed Knuckles' father Locke from captivity.

When Mammoth Mogul, the Destructix, the Arachne Clan and Ixis Naugus joined forces, Saffron assisted the Knothole Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix in their battle to regain the Sword and Crown of Acorns. Some time later, Saffron was among the majority of people captured by the Egg Fleet during the destruction of Knothole and was sent to the Egg Grape Chambers. After Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy rescued everyone and transported them all to New Mobotropolis, Saffron tried to help Charmy regain his memories, which he'd partially lost during his brief moments in the Egg Grape Chamber after it was activated. She was relieved that Charmy still remembered her.

After the Enerjak ordeal, Saffron joined the Chaotix in their mission to defeat the Dark Egg Legion in New Megaopolis as well as destroy one of Eggman's communication relays. Saffron went with Charmy and Ray the Flying Squirrel to set up the explosives in the communications relay station while Sonic and the Chaotix fought the Dark Egg Legion and kept them preoccupied. During this mission she kept in contact with Julie-Su and soon found herself contacting the Chaotix when the Dark Egg Legion's retreat lead them right back to the tower. After the Dark Egg Legion was again distracted by the rest of the Chaotix, Saffron detonated the bombs, destroying the relay station.

Weeks later, Saffron played a key part in the final push against the Eggman Empire. First, she and the rest of the Chaotix flanked the Dark Egg Legion and forced them to retreat. Following this, she, Charmy and Ray managed to get onto the Egg Phoenix when its flames went out and plant Tails' Neutralizing Mines on its hull, thus enabling Tails to disable it and causing it to crash. Later, during the fight in the Eggdome, Saffron, with the help of Charmy and Ray, managed to save Espio and Mighty who were pinned by laser-fire. After Mighty and Bunnie finished beating down the barricade, Saffron and the groups went in to find that Eggman was defeated. She and Charmy hugged as they all headed back to New Mobotropolis to celebrate.

Afterwards, Saffron and Charmy went to find more of their people, and thus were absent as the rest of their teammates engaged the Dark Egg Legion in Downunda and Dr. Finetivus alongside the Downunda Freedom Fighters. Later, after the Iron Dominion had been defeated, the two returned to Angel Island to meet with the other Chaotix and to hear the confessions of Espio, who had briefly left the group to serve the Dominion. After learning that Espio had been sent to observe Knuckles and that he knew Vector was originally from Downunda, Charmy sought to be included. After trading a glance with Saffron, Espio attempted to explain to Charmy what had happened to him before his exposure to the Egg Grapes. Charmy dismissed the knowledge due to having no memory, and Saffron remarked that perhaps Charmy was not yet ready to accept Espio's news.

Imprisoned

Some time later, Knuckles received a message from Remington stating that Albion and the rest of the Echidnas were under attack by Lien-Da and the Dark Egg Legion. Saffron and Julie-Su remained behind to guard the Master Emerald, but unfortunately both soon were ambushed by Thrash the Devil and were trapped in an unknown location by his Super-charged Warp Ring. Charmy had left with Vector and Espio to look for Mighty and Ray, and Espio had promised Saffron that he would keep him safe.

Personality

Somewhat similar to Cream the Rabbit in personality, she is more timid than most of the other characters and is accompanied by a Chao-like entity called a Nightopian plush, an obvious reference to Nights into Dreams. Saffron is a bit girly and started out being slightly naive (as shown when Nack the Weasel describes a malfunctioning vehicle and she thinks he's referring to an injured creature) but despite this, she's extremely brave and supportive, especially to Charmy. Though sometimes easily upset, she shows great loyalty and devotion and does not easily back down from a dangerous situation despite her inexperience. She gained more of an adventurous spirit after being told of Charmy's adventures, and became willing to accompany him into danger even before joining the Chaotix. It is implied that Saffron still likes Charmy Bee.

Powers and abilities

Saffron's abilities are identical to Charmy's own; she can shrink to insect size and fly and she is able to sting foes and flowers just like Charmy.

Relationships

Charmy Bee

Saffron and Charmy Bee are not a married couple. While Charmy was seemingly annoyed by her when he fled his home, not long after his return his friends on Angel Island received a letter announcing their engagement. The Golden Hive Colony was presumably destroyed before they could be wed, but the two remain almost inseparable companions. Their bond is incredibly strong, having been one of the few memories to survive at least somewhat intact after Charmy's time in the Egg Grapes.

Friends/allies

• Chaotix
  • Charmy Bee
  • Espio the Chameleon
  • Julie-Su
  • Knuckles the Echidna
  • Mighty the Armadillo
  • Ray the Flying Squirrel
  • Vector the Crocodile
• Dr. Quack
• Knothole Freedom Fighters
  • Amy Rose
  • Antoine D'Coolette
  • Bunnie D'Coolette
  • Miles "Tails" Prower
  • Nicole
  • Rotor Walrus
  • Sally Acorn
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
• Remington

Enemies

• Destructix
• Eggman Empire
  • Dark Egg Legion
  • Dr. Eggman
  • Snively Robotnik
• Dr. Finitevus
• Enerjak
• Hunter
• Ixis Naugus
• Mammoth Mogul
• Thrash the Tasmanian Devil

Trivia

• Saffron's name is a play-on words. Saffron is a flower which bees get their nectar and pollinate from. Saffron is also a shade of orange the color of her and Charmy's jackets and shoes (Saffron's old shoes). Orange also seems to be her old hair color.
  • Ironically the color of the flower is purple-pinkish which is the color of her shoes and parts of her jacket now.
• Saffron was originally slated to be killed off in the "Return to Angel Island" arc, due to being utterly useless in her initial appearances, but at the last minute, the writers decided to keep her alive.
• According to Aleah Baker, she had intended to make Saffron make an appearance in the "Endangered Species" arc with a redesigned look. Ideas for this included:
  • Changing her eyes to pink or green due to the abundance of blue-eyed characters-this became less of an issue due to changes to Team Chaotix.
  • Her shoes and dress becoming yellow-green to differentiate her from Julie-Su's coloration with Jonathan Gray's pom poms added to the shoes and a trim on the dress. Baker also liked the idea of putting polka dots on the dress but had to take into account the difficulty of drawing the dress differently in various panels and keeping track of the pattern.
  • Her jacket sleeves being rolled up and the jacket itself being zipped to create more similarity to Charmy's vest, with a flower or Bee design on the back.
  • A finalized design in which her head was yellow and her hair was done up in a bob-cut, with a pattern of short yellow and black stripes intended to resemble leggings or knee socks.
  • An old-fashioned radio headset.
• Her Nightopian doll is a shout-out to the NiGHTS series, in which Nightopians are the series equivalent to Chao.
• Initial plans between Jeff Axer and Karl Bollers intended for Nack the Weasel to violently kill-off Saffron Bee (along with another unnamed key character) with a Garrote Wire made from piano wire. This idea was scrapped.
• Due to Ken Penders issuing a lawsuit against Archie Comics for use of his characters, Saffron, along with Julie-Su and most of the remaining echidnas, were written out of the story.

External links

• Saffron Bee at Mobius Encyclopaedia, the Archie Sonic wiki.

Pre-Super Genesis Wave Freedom Fighters