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"Vector Detector"[1] is the ninety-sixth episode in the Sonic Boom television series. It first aired on 9 September 2017 in the United States and on 19 September 2017 in France.
Synopsis
Amy's hammer is missing and she is lost without it. Vector the detective is on the case.[2]
Appearances
Characters:
- Ball Bot (multiple)
- Beaver Policeman
- Beth the Shrew
- Comedy Chimp
- Dave the Intern
- Dixon
- Dr. Eggman
- Fastidious Beaver
- Fennec Male
- Lady Goat
- Justin Beaver
- Mike the Ox
- Mrs. Vandersnout
- Old Monkey
- Rabbit Girl
- Stratford
- Team Sonic
- Vector the Crocodile (first appearance)
- Walrus Camera Man
- Weasel Bandit
- Wild Cat
- Wolf Policeman
- Wolf Sidekick
- Zooey
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Misc.:
Plot
It is morning in Amy's House, and Amy is in an exceptionally good mood. However, her joy turns into hysteria when she reaches out for her hammer, only to discover that it is no longer on its rack. Uniting with her team in the Village Center, Amy talks with them about how incomplete she feels without her hammer. Knuckles remarks that he would be in Amy's shoes if he had no fists. He promptly forgets where his fists are until Sticks reminds him, and he remarks he momentarily felt as useless as Amy right now. As Sonic wonders about who would steal Amy's Hammer, the group notice Dr. Eggman, all happy, greet them while carrying his groceries. Amy accuses Eggman of stealing her hammer, but Eggman notes that he would have made himself a hammer if wanted one. Now feeling all upset, Eggman attacks Team Sonic with his Ball Bots when Sonic teases him. While most of Team Sonic are handling the Ball Bots, Amy finds herself unable to do anything without her hammer. Feeling all useless like Knuckles said she was, Amy suffers a breakdown and runs away crying. After giving Knuckles a hard look, Sonic decides they have to tend to Amy and wraps up the fight by sending Eggman and his Eggmobile flying into the sky with a spin attack (which Eggman understands why).
Back at Amy's House, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Sticks bring Amy some new hand-to-hand combat weapons to try out. While Amy appreciates the gesture though, she tells them she has called in a professional. Vector the Crocodile then comes barging in and tells on the Walrus Camera Man's camera that he is here to investigate "The Case of the Missing Hammer". Sonic is confused about why Vector is here, prompting Vector's TV producer, Dixon, to encourage Sonic to be more excited. Amy explains that Vector has a reality detective show and that he will surely find her hammer. Sonic wonders when Vector got a reality show, to which Vector explains that he got one as soon as he was promised a big paycheck.
On camera, Vector explains is ready to begin his investigation by looking for clues around Amy's House. Sonic insists on camera that he can do that much faster and searches the house in a flash, but finds nothing. Vector, on the other hand, finds some footprints that lead to a Meh Burger VIP card, which he notes is their first clue. Sonic and Vector promptly go to Meh Burger, where they plan to interrogate Dave about the Meh Burger VIP card using the "Good cop/Bad cop" routine, but neither is willing to be the good cop. As Sonic and Vector pull out all the stops on Dave, the nutria eventually cracks and admits the VIP program is a sham: to please disgruntled customers, they give them VIP cards to make them feel special, and at this point, almost everyone in Hedgehog Village has one. Later that evening, Sonic meets up with his friends in Amy's House, where Amy is practicing new weapons with Sticks, and reveals the sad news that their clue was a dead end. Tails tries to cheer Amy up by encouraging her to watch some TV, and looks up the Comedy Chimp Show. On this episode, Comedy Chimp makes fun of his guest-star, Justin Beaver, after he reveals his new reality TV job, prompting Justin to storm off in anger.
The next morning, Vector and his crew have arrived at Comedy Chimp's TV studio, whose encased images of Comedy Chimp have been vandalized. When Team Sonic appear, Sonic notes someone must have done this out of spite for Comedy Chimp. Amy, however, notices that the marks on the broken images are the same as those made by her hammer. Vector himself concludes that it was Justin Beaver who smashed the images as payback at Comedy Chimp's mocking of him last night, meaning Justin is the one who stole Amy's Hammer. Sonic is skeptical however, so Vector has them do a stakeout at Justin's house. After waiting all day, Sonic and Vector notice Justin leaving his house in secrecy and heading to the library, where he is greeted by Fastidious Beaver. Sonic, Vector and the TV crew barge into the library, thinking they have uncovered a "beaver conspiracy". What they find, however, is a book club that Justin attends every night with the local villagers. Sonic verifies Justin's involvement in the group after hearing his vocabulary, and Vector sees that Justin cannot be their suspect: if he attends this book club every night, he could have not been the one who smashed up Comedy Chimp's studio last night. Regardless, Dixon encourages Vector to back to Amy's House and look for other clues the tomorrow.
As the crew searches Amy's garden, Dixon find a set of goggles and a pie eaten from the middle, making Vector conclude that the thief must have been spying on Amy from the garden while eating pie before stealing the hammer. Sonic questions who would eat a pie like that however, so Vector has them set up a pie festival for everyone to attend. Vector's plan was then to keep an eye out for anyone eating a pie from the middle. However, the plan ends up a bust, prompting Sonic to argue with Vector over the brilliance of his idea after the festival is over. While arguing however, Vector notices another edition of the Comedy Chimp Show on a nearby TV. On the show, Comedy Chimp talks with Wolf Sidekick about how he missed out on the pie festival before throwing a pie in his face. This makes Vector realize that their pie was not eaten from the middle: it was thrown in someone's face. As such, the next day, Vector has everyone gathered in Comedy Chimp's studio. There, he reveals that Wolf Sidekick is the hammer thief: he has a Meh Burger VIP card, supposedly has a grudge against Comedy Chimp, has pies constantly thrown in his face, and has a TV routine that could use an over-sized hammer. Wolf is initially confused about the accusation, but Vector seemingly proves Wolf is guilty by finding Amy's Hammer in Wolf's props chest, which makes Amy hug Vector in gratitude. The police then take wolf away, who rants about how he is innocent. Meanwhile, Amy thanks Vector for his help and notes that her hammer is one-of-a-kind. Amy's last statement however, gets Vector thinking.
Back in his studio, Vector continues his pondering: if Amy's hammer is one-of-a-kind, then why would Wolf Sidekick steal something so recognizable for his routine? Dixon, however, tells Vector to let it go. Regardless, Vector goes to Sonic's Shack, alone, and gets Sonic to help him solve this peculiar mystery.
Using Vector's TV show to record their investigation later on, Sonic and Vector reopen the "The Case of the Missing Hammer" as they are about to visit the real thief outside his house. Starting out with a review of the case, Sonic notes that all clues initially pointed to Justin Beaver, but when he had an alibi, the clues shifted to Wolf Sidekick instead. Vector sums up that someone must have had a grudge against Justin to try something like that and have access to Wolf's props chest to frame him. With this, both Vector and Sonic get Dixon to come out of his house. Sonic and Vector then explain why Dixon is the hammer thief: besides having a Meh Burger VIP card, Dixon also had a motive to frame Justin as the hammer thief, namely when Justin ditched Dixon as his manager at the end of his singing career. But when Justin's alibi checked out, Dixon had to frame someone else, and as TV producer, he had the access needed to plant Amy's Hammer in Wolf's props chest. His scheme exposed, Dixon tries to flee, only for Amy to cut him off, allowing the police to take him away.
In the aftermath, Vector admits to Sonic that they make a good team, seeing how they solved this case without anyone getting hurt. What everyone seems to have forgotten however, is to let Wolf Sidekick out of jail.
Continuity
- Dixon tries to frame Justin Beaver in an act of revenge following the events of "Battle of the Boy Bands".
- In this episode, Justin is revealed to have found a job in reality television, a promise of which he made back in "Battle of the Boy Bands".
- Knuckles eats wood in the pie festival like on "Chili Dog Day Afternoon".
Goofs
- In this episode, Lady Goat's fur has the same color it had during season one of the Sonic Boom television series.
- When Sonic returns to Amy's House after the investigation at Meh Burger, it is nighttime. However, in the following scene where Amy sits down on her couch, one can see it is daytime through the cracks in the wall of Amy's House.
Production
Before this episode aired, there was an additional scene with a joke. However, it ended up being cut from the final product due to time restraints.[3]
Title in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| French | Vector, le Détector | Vector, the Detector |
| Polish | Vector Detektor | Vector Detector |
| Spanish (Latin America) | Detector Vector | Detector Vector |
Trivia
- Nine days before this episode aired on Boomerang, Bill Freiberger released the title card for this episode on Twitter as a teaser.[4]
- This episode marks the first official appearance of Vector the Crocodile in the Sonic Boom universe (and his second overall appearance after his cameo in "Where Have All the Sonics Gone?").
- Dixon telling Sonic to be excited at Vector's arrival when the hedgehog expresses confusion about it may be a nod to the Sonic fans' demands to see more characters from the Sonic games, like Vector, in the Sonic Boom television series.
- The money symbols Vector creates with his eyes is a reference to his reaction of a potential paying job in Sonic Heroes.[5]
- Additionally, when this happens, Tails breaks the fourth wall by saying that "[Vector] should probably see an optometrist about that".
- The show that Justin Beaver is on and describes on the Comedy Chimp Show is a reference to the American singing competition television series American Idol.
- Sonic and Vector's discussion about stakeouts on television while waiting for Justin to appear is a nod to themselves, as the events that proceed Sonic's description of a stereotypical stakeout scene on television occur just like he predicted.
- Mike the Ox's satisfied gesture he makes after eating a pie at Vector's pie festival is the same gesture Pacha makes in the film, The Emperor's New Groove, when describing to Kuzco the perfect angle at which the sun hits his house.[6]
- Sonic calling Vector "Leatherhead" is a reference to the name of the mutant alligator from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.[7]
- This is the second time Knuckles has incorrectly guessed Old Monkey was the culprit behind an event, the first being in "Nominatus Rising".
- Dixon's orchestration of Vector's investigation is subtly hinted throughout the episode:
- When Justin provides an alibi that prevents Dixon from framing him, Dixon is the first to suggest they go back to the crime scene, which was where Dixon would plant the clue that would frame Wolf Sidekick.
- Dixon was the one who found the clue he had planted that would lead Vector to mark Wolf Sidekick as the thief of Amy's Hammer.
- When Vector gets suspicious about Wolf Sidekick not being the real thief, Dixon tries persuading him from investigating it further.
- This episode bears similarities to Sonic Boom #3, which also centers around Amy losing her hammer.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sonic Boom schedule. U-verse (26 August 2017). Retrieved on 26 August 2017.
- ↑ Bill Freiberger on Twitter. Twitter (7 September 2017). Retrieved on 7 September 2017. "Bill Freiberger: 235: Amy's hammer is missing and she is lost without it. Vector the detective is on the case."
- ↑ Alan Denton on Twitter. Twitter (12 September 2017). Retrieved on 12 September 2017. "Alan Denton: That being said, there was a joke in this last episode that I was really excited to screencap & post…only to find it was cut for time :("
- ↑ Bill Freiberger on Twitter. Twitter (31 August 2017). Retrieved on 31 August 2017. "Bill Freiberger: A #sonicboom preview for next Saturday: Ep. 235, "Vector Detector" Written by @ReidHarrisonLA"
- ↑ Alan Denton on Twitter. Twitter (9 September 2017). Retrieved on 10 September 2017. "Andres Lopez: Hey @AlanTheWriter I'm wondering if this is a reference to sonic heroes / Alan Denton: Hey man, not every little thing we do on Sonic Boom is a direct reference to the games. ...But yeah, this definitely was."
- ↑ Alan Denton on Twitter. Twitter (9 September 2017). Retrieved on 10 September 2017.
- ↑ Greg Hahn on Twitter. Twitter (12 September 2017). Retrieved on 12 September 2017. "Greg Hahn: Oh, and one more bit of #Vector trivia - yes, Sonic's Leatherhead remark was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reference. #SonicBoom"
