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Princess Sally Acorn

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Sally.jpg
Princess Sally Acorn
Species: Squirrel, chipmunk
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Series: Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)
First seen: "Heads or Tails"

Princess Sally Acorn is a fictional anthropomorphic squirrel/chipmunk created by DiC for the 1993 Sonic the Hedgehog animated TV series (SatAM). A founding member of the Freedom Fighters, she shares a leadership role with Sonic the Hedgehog in an attempt to defeat Dr. Robotnik and rescue her deposed father, King Acorn.

Character conception

"Pink Sally", the design used for Sally Acorn during SatAM's production.

When brought to the west, the rescued animals in Sonic the Hedgehog were given localised names and a backstory, as outlined by the Sonic the Hedgehog Bible. Of these, the character Ricky became known as "Sally Acorn", the only obvious female character in the original game (although strictly speaking Flicky was designed as female). As such, when DiC were designing their Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons, they chose to use Sally Acorn as the female lead.

DiC appears to have toyed with a "princess" character from an early stage, possibly as a love interest for Sonic, or as someone to be captured by Robotnik, fulfilling the damsel in distress cliché. In earlier versions of the concept, a "Princess Acorn" character, with an entirely different design to the finished product, is shown as being both a love interest and a strong character in her own right, ready to take on Robotnik as part of a "freedom team". Other designs also suggest Princess Sally was at one point set to be a human character.

While her design would change and the Sonic-princess romance (initially) toned down, Princess Sally Acorn would emerge as a major character in both SatAM and the US comic book series released by Archie Comics, fulfilling a leadership role. While it would be Sonic who would get all the laughs and take part in most of the action, Sally would devise the plans and coordinate the team.

Sally Acorn's design is notorious for having changed several times during development of the cartoon. The Archie Comics series, which although based on DiC designs was published nearly a year in advance of the TV show airing, featured no less than three designs of Sally - a blonde-haired, red squirrel seen in issue #¼, a brunette (or black-haired) pink squirrel used up until issue #16 and a brown squirrel/chipmunk hybrid with more "womanly" features and a blue jacket, used from issue #16 onwards. In the second Genesis wave in issue #252, Sally is donned with more than just the boots and jacket, but is given a black shirt inside her jacket, gloves, black capris, and blue sneakers in place of her boots.

"Pink Sally" can also be seen in the pilot episode of SatAM, "Heads or Tails". More confusing is that in the original run of the show, this was broadcast at the end of the season, when the finalised Sally design had already been seen on screen.

Sega of America were keen to adopt Princess Sally as an official Sonic the Hedgehog character, but aside from a cameo role in the US-produced Sonic Spinball and planned appearances in the scrapped Sonic-16 and Sonic Mars, she has never appeared in a video game. However, in the US release of Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Amy Rose is erroneously referred to as "Sally Acorn" in the game's manual and Sally was used in promotional material for Sega World Sydney in Australia.

The DiC cartoon project eventually resulted in two shows; SatAM and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (AoStH). Princess Sally did not appear in the latter, however does feature in a non-speaking role in its 1996 Christmas special, Sonic Christmas Blast, which aired three years after the show had been cancelled. Here Sally has her final SatAM design, but the pink colour scheme similar to the pilot. This was the last time the character ever appeared on television outside of reruns.

Appearances

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)

In the second American Sonic cartoon, Sally is a member of the Freedom Fighters. She is the love interest of Sonic the Hedgehog, much to the dismay of the young royal guard, Antoine. She is a caretaker for Tails, Sonic's surrogate younger brother, and a good friend of Bunnie Rabbot. She also has a pocket computer containing an advanced program named NICOLE. Sally's goal, along with the rest of the Freedom Fighters, is to defeat Doctor Robotnik and free her father, King Acorn. She is voiced by Kath Soucie in the original English language version.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Princess Sally appears as a named but non-speaking character in Sonic Christmas Blast. For a second year in a row, Sonic and Sally agree not to buy each other Christmas presents. However, feeling guilty that Sally did in fact give him gifts the previous Christmas (including a special ring), Sonic sets out to buy her "two stores full" of presents from Robotropolis.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie comics)

Pre-Super Genesis Wave

In the American Sonic comics, Sally is currently about 17 years old (according to Ken Penders), and is the daughter of King Maximillian Acorn and Queen Alicia Acorn. She is also the younger sister of Elias Acorn, sister in law to Elias' wife Meg and aunt of Alexis Acorn, the child of Meg and Elias. Her family ruled over all Mobians and their respective territories for many generations. Their official dynasty ended shortly after the Great War, when which the treacherous warlord Dr. Julian Kintobor (an overlander defector) staged a coup d'etat, usurping the Acorn throne.

A young Sally, of only five years, was hidden from Robotnik's grasp and sent to live in the protected village of Knothole within the heart of the Great Forest. Sally grew up to lead a band of ragtag rebel militiamen from Knothole starting at age 10, living with her friends, her governess Rosie, and her mentor Julayla. Early on in the fight, princess Sally would lose her mentor Julayla, but through the long period of fighting lying ahead of her, Sally would rely on her deceased mentor for strength to lead the Freedom Fighters. The goal of the Freedom Fighters would be to oust their oppressive ruler. In relatively close proximity to Robotropolis, they carried out numerous guerrilla attacks against Robotnik, constantly striving for his overthrow.

The Freedom Fighters inevitably rescued Sally's father from the Zone Of Silence. Although he was in a crystallized state, it was a momentous step towards the return of their kingdom. Finding the former Princess a definite threat to his reign, Robotnik devised an elaborate assassination plot, nearly taking the now 15 year old rebel leader's life. His "Endgame" scheme, however was foiled by the rebellion, leading to his death. Not long after, Sally fully recovered from her assassination attempt.

During the years to follow, Sally worked hard to reestablish her father's government, though she encountered a myriad of hardships along the way - including the arrival of an alternate reality Robotnik (Robo-Robotnik), who retook Mobotropolis. Despite his return, she presided over the newly established Kingdom of Knothole - though as her father regained control of his body and her long-lost brother Elias was discovered, Sally found herself with increasingly diminished authority. Sally was among the few individuals who could wield the Sword of Acorns, and in the absence of her boyfriend Sonic for one year, she led the Freedom Fighters against Dr. Eggman.

Eventually, her beloved Sonic returned, but though she wished for him to settle down with her, Sonic instead wished to continue the fight with Eggman. This lead to a rather infamous breakup scene between them in which Sally slapped Sonic in front of a crowd of people. In the aftermath of this, the two of them coped in different ways - Sonic by dating Fiona Fox and Sally by offering anonymous relationship advice to the people of Knothole with the help of her AI friend NICOLE. She also briefly swapped bodies with Nicole, which led to the AI creating an artificial body for herself - testing it one night by stargazing with Sally. At one point, Sally was also engaged to whom she though was Antoine, but who turned out to be his evil doppelganger Patch.

When Knothole Village was destroyed, Sally and the rest of her family moved to New Mobotropolis. There, her brother - now king - formed the Council of Acorn, which she often clashed with as the leader of the Freedom Fighters. Sally was present at the mission in which the Freedom Fighters finally (briefly) defeated Dr. Eggman. Not long after, the Iron Dominion took control of the Eggman Empire, and seized New Mobotropolis. As this happened, Sally ventured with Sonic, Tails and Monkey Khan to the Dragon Kingdom to craft a way to defeat them. This eventually succeeded, but the damage to the city's morale was done. Her friend Nicole was ousted out of fear, and her brother was dethroned as king by Ixis Naugus.

Eventually, Dr. Eggman launched his Genesis Wave, which reset the timeline to one in his favor - where he hoped to roboticize the entire planet's population. Luckily, Sonic was able to reverse it, and time was restored to a few minutes before its launch - but Sally was forced to reverse the Roboticizer on herself to stop Eggman from using it again. The new (and debatably improved) Mecha Sally was programmed as a loyal minion of Dr. Eggman, and one of the Freedom Fighters' most formidable foes - in both the physical and psychological sense. She was used constantly to attack Eggman's targets, including an assault on her own brother that lead to her friend Antoine being put into a coma. Eventually, her friends began to figure out a way to cure her roboticization, but were unable to before the Super Genesis Wave struck.

Post-Super Genesis Wave

In the universe established after the Super Genesis Wave reboot, Sally's role is mostly unchanged. She sports a new, somewhat more modest design, but she is still the princess of the Acorn Kingdom and she still leads the Freedom Fighters. Instead of living in Knothole Village, though, she now commands from the Sky Patrol, a flying ship created by Rotor Walrus. She is first seen having stolen crucial data from the Death Egg, which gives her team an upper hand against Dr. Eggman.

Sally is often seen leading operations parallel to Sonic's team, though she does join him on missions from time to time. On one occasion, she leads Tails, Antoine and Nicole to retrieve a Chaos Emerald in one of Eggman's mines. On another, she joins Nicole, along with Tails and Big the Cat, to meet up with Dr. Ellidy on Isolated Island, as well as to research his discovery of Red Star Rings. Here, she teams up with Nicole to defeat the malevolent virus Phage. Not all of her efforts go smoothly, though - at one point, she leads her team into a trap and nearly gets them killed.

During the Shattered World Crisis, Sally helps the Freedom Fighters restore the world using the Chaos Emerald. Unfortunately, one of her broadcasts was intercepted by Dr. Eggman, who launched a surprise attack on the brink of their victory. Though Dr. Eggman had captured and taken control of Light Gaia, Sally was able to get the group's bearings and plan a counterattack. The Freedom Fighters soon assaulted Eggmanland, with Sally's team attacking it directly to break Eggman's control of Dark Gaia's energy. Eventually, Dark Gaia would break this control on its own, leading to it reforming.

Once Super Sonic began fighting Dark Gaia along with the Gaia Colossus, Sally and the rest of the Freedom Fighters could only watch from atop the crashed Sky Patrol. She was last seen with Sonic and the rest of her team on the Sky Patrol's roof, watching the sun rise.

Cancellation of Archie comics

After the cancellation of the Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie comics)Archie Sonic comics]] in 2017, it is unknown if we will ever see Sally Acorn or any of the other Freedom Fighters ever again. She does not appear in the IDW Sonic comic series, nor has she been referenced in any games outside of a cameo in Sonic Spinball. However, not all hope is lost for Sally - series director Morio Kishimoto has expressed some, if minor, interest in reusing her[1], and she has been featured in the Sonic Forces prequel comic in a cameo.[2]. Whether this technically makes her canon to the Sonic game universe is up to interpretation.

Sally was intended to appear in multiple comic issues that were ultimately cancelled. She likely would have appeared in issue 292, as she appears on the cover. She also would have appeared in Sonic Universe 97, venturing with Amy and Cream to repair Nicole's damaged systems.

Relationships

Though Sally loves her kingdom's people first and foremost, she has also become notorious for being involved in several love triangles throughout the comic's history. In the pre-Super Genesis Wave universe, however, her true love is ultimately Sonic the Hedgehog. She can always rely on him for both emotional support and physical support during their missions, and despite their infamous breakup, the two remained friends and eventually reunited.

Sonic, however, hasn't been her only suitor. At various points in the Archie comic's history, she's been flirted with by various characters, most notably Geoffrey St. John, Monkey Khan and Antoine D' Coolette. Geoffrey is perhaps the most infamous of the three, as he directly competed with Sonic for Sally's affection early in the comic. He accompanied her in the Princess Sally miniseries, and upon Sally's presumed death in the Endgame arc, Geoffrey furiously hunted Sonic down after he was blamed for her death. She also entered a short-lived relationship with Monkey Khan later on in the comic, though after realizing the qualities she liked in him were because of his similarities to Sonic, the two amiably split up. Antoine vied for her love early in the series, but this was very one-sized - Sally consistently rejected him, though the two settled for being friends later. Sally also experienced some jealousy for Mina Mongoose, who was also romantically interested in Sonic.

Sally's life isn't entirely determined by who she loves, however. Her best friend is her AI companion, Nicole. Sally often brings Nicole on missions with her, and the AI also acts as a trusted confidant. They even switched bodies with each other - a mark of true friends - and after Nicole was inspired to create a body of her own, the two only grew closer. In the post-Super Genesis Wave universe, the two are even implied to be in a romantic relationship, though this was not confirmed in the series proper.[3]. Sally is also good friends with Bunnie Rabbot, who acts as the princess' hairdresser - Sally was even the maid of honor at Bunnie's wedding.

Other members of her circle of friends include Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, and Lupe the Wolf.

Other Sally Acorns

Throughout the American medias, numerous doppelgängers of Sally Acorn have appeared, namely created as robots by Dr. Robotnik for infiltration purposes.

Robo-Sally

The Sonic and Sally Robo-Sally, with the real Sally locked behind bars.

In the cartoon episode Sonic and Sally, Dr. Robotnik created a machine to duplicate Sally's complete physiology and most of her thought-patterns to infiltrate and locate Knothole Village. Along with being able to look exactly like Sally Acorn, it was equipped with a Mega Muck dispenser and an arm laser pistol. Although the clone was able to duplicate the complexity of a Mobian's mind, it didn't have all of Sally's memories, thus raising suspicion with Tails. When, on a mission in Robotropolis, the Robo-Sally didn't know Sonic and Sally's secret handshake, it was then that Robo-Sally's deception was revealed. Although Robo-Sally was able to stop Sonic for a short period of time, Bunnie Rabbot stepped in and helped. Then, using his speed, Sonic ran circles around the Robo-Sally, eventually immobilizing her from the confusion. The disabled Robo-Sally was used by Sonic to replace Sally, who was in a roboticizer, to save her. Robo-Sally made a brief appearance in Sonic's Nightmare, in both of Sonic's dreams, this time being the real Sally.

Voice Actors

References


Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie comics) characters
Pre-Super Genesis Wave
Main Sonic the Hedgehog | Princess Sally Acorn | Miles "Tails" Prower (Turbo, Titan) | Rotor Walrus | Bunnie Rabbot | Antoine D' Coolette | NICOLE | Knuckles the Echidna | Dr. Robotnik
Recurring Geoffrey St. John | Ixis Naugus | Julie-Su | Mammoth Mogul | Mina Mongoose | Monkey Khan | Scourge the Hedgehog | Snively | Uncle Chuck | Shadow the Hedgehog | Dr. Finitevus
Others Harvey Who | Isabella Mongoose | Arthur Mongoose
Post-Super Genesis Wave
Main Sonic the Hedgehog (Werehog) | Princess Sally Acorn | Miles "Tails" Prower | Rotor Walrus | Bunnie Rabbot | Antoine D' Coolette | NICOLE | Knuckles the Echidna | Amy Rose | Dr. Eggman
Recurring Cream the Rabbit | Cheese | Big the Cat | Shadow the Hedgehog | Rouge the Bat | E-123 Omega | Vector the Crocodile | Espio the Chameleon | Charmy Bee | Silver the Hedgehog | Blaze the Cat | Metal Sonic (Neo) | Orbot | Cubot | Walter Naugus | Eclipse the Darkling
Others Uncle Chuck | Muttski | Black Death | Professor Pickle | Chip | Gemerl | Deadly Six (Zavok, Zazz, Zomom, Master Zik, Zeena, Zor) | Gold the Tenrec | Professor Von Schlemmer | Wendy Naugus
Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) characters
Main Sonic the Hedgehog | Princess Sally Acorn | Tails | Rotor Walrus | Bunnie Rabbot | Antoine D' Coolette | Dr. Robotnik | Snively
Recurring Cluck | Dulcy the Dragon | SWATbot | Uncle Chuck | NICOLE | Lupe | Ari Ram
Others Ixis Naugus | Muttski | Lazaar