How Common Are Reptiles On Mobius?

[Pinchetel]

Because I've been here a while and done....perhaps one thread of direct investigation on this.

What the title says. I mean, looking at the StC issues/StC-O back issues, there aren't many unnamed reptiles to go from (those crocodile scientists notwithstanding...maybe). Not just that, but apparently they're so rare in security jobs that a crook is surprised when they show up (Hello, In Cold Blood).

For that matter, are insects even rarer?

[Devo DrakeFox]

Insects have never been that common, it's only since the introduction of the Family that insects have become a common sight on Mobius. As for reptiles, they have been considerably more commonplace. Here's a list of STC's memorable lizard-folk.

Vector the Crocodile
Espio the Chameleon
Max Gamble
Society Max
Boss Krouch (and Son)
Filch

And the guy in your avatar, VEA... Loot, is it?

I'm sure there are others, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[ShayMay]

May 4, 2011 11:35:28 GMT Pinchetel said:

(those crocodile scientists notwithstanding...maybe)

Equinox? They're from the Special Zone, as are most of the insects and reptiles.
I put it down to the artists, really. I mean, Archie's cast mainly suffer the same problem.

[Pinchetel]

Funnily enough, I probably would have mentioned Archie and their similar ratios given the right opportunity. Theirs is a slightly different issue in that they're pretty much all chameleons.

I was also suspicious of reptiles and their link to the Special Zone, given that I knew at least vector and Espio came from there.

And yeah, that's Loot.

[MentalAnalysis]

There was also Crimson Cobra (I think that's his name)

You could argue that most Reptiles were in the special zone but you would probably think that because there's more reptilian minor characters there

[Supermorff]

And Sidewinder... uh, probably. Whatever he was. And if he was, then probably Lightmare too.

Ms. Alpha? Ryan Baggit, if he was a frog or something. Mr Gullets from the Captain Plunder story. There's probably more.

[Pinchetel]

May 4, 2011 19:52:39 GMT Supermorff said:

And Sidewinder... uh, probably. Whatever he was. And if he was, then probably Lightmare too.

Piggies are mammals. :3

Already knew about Ms Alpha, the Crimson Cobra and everyone Devo posted. Ryan Baggit and Mr Gullet are amphibians, not quite reptiles.

Although...where are the amphibians, in any media? I think StC has the most at "More than one".

[ShayMay]

May 4, 2011 20:19:46 GMT Pinchetel said:

Piggies are mammals. :3

I always thought Sidewinder existed on the same plane of "what the [censored] is he" as Plunder. I think he's thought of as a reptile because of his name, but otherwise, I lump him in with Plunder, Filch and Grimer, in the "various humanoids" category.

[Supermorff]

May 4, 2011 20:19:46 GMT Pinchetel said:

Ryan Baggit and Mr Gullet are amphibians, not quite reptiles.

Although...where are the amphibians, in any media? I think StC has the most at "More than one".

Dangit, I got confused between toads and turtles again. Toads are amphibians, turtles are reptiles, right? Okay, got it.

Speaking of which: Gilbert Grumpy.

[dk]

Most of the monsters from the Misery Zone looked like reptiles before Sonic genocided them.

[Nam]

I really have to ask, why are we asking? Save for a few minor things on the main characters, like Sonic being able to curl into a ball of spikes, and Tekno flying, which seldom seem to come up, Mobian characters don't tend to convey the characteristics of the animals they're based on. After all, Tails (a fox) could fly, and Amy, despite being a hedgehog, never curled herself into a ball.

Hence why does it actually matter how many reptiles there are? Species on Mobius never seemed to be a big deal (the lack of Echidna's aside), and it never really seemed to matter what animal a given character was cast as. Characters were either whatever suited the characters written personality, whatever Sega had already said they were, or whatever the artist decided to go with.

Certainly, amongst background characters, there's a lot of mammals, but that's probably just artistic laziness. Several artists tend to use the same stock background characters anyway, I recall several comments regarding Mick McMahon's Rat-dog-things over the years. Most of them seem to be animals not used by the main cast, possibly to make them more distinctive against the extras. There are almost no hedgehogs in STC bar Sonic, Amy, and any character claiming to be Sonic's twin/long lost brother/clone/future self/whatever (though more have cropped up in STC-O).

[Spudiator]

I always just assumed it was down to the artists reflecting the games to an extent, when you smash the badniks in the games and the animals came out, I can't recall any of them being reptiles (feel free to correct me on that one).

[Samface]

May 5, 2011 8:39:07 GMT Spudiator said:

when you smash the badniks in the games and the animals came out, I can't recall any of them being reptiles (feel free to correct me on that one).

Do you know, you've gone and intrigued me. I'ma find out.

*heads to Sonic News Network*

Right, there is one single reptile in the 16-bit games: a turtle, which, if memory serves, only turns up in Sky Chase Zone. There's also a dragon to be found in Adventure 2, which I guess counts as a reptile.

All other animals are either mammals or birds, with the exception of the Black Lagoon-style "half-fish", also in Adventure 2 (I'd guess Pumpkin Hill, can't remember off the top of my head).

For the record, the 16-bit games have the following as organic batteries, or however you'd like to term it:

Bluebirds (or Flickies, if you like), rabbits, penguins, chickens, squirrels, pigs, walruses, bears, bald eagles, monkeys, turtles and rats (or possibly mice).

Between them, the Adventure games have:

Deers, kangaroos, rabbits, swallows, parrots, peacocks, elephants, gorillas, lions, penguins, seals, sea otters, koalas, moles, skunks, boars, cheetahs, condors, bears, tigers, raccoons, sheep, bats, "half-fish", skeleton dogs, dragons, phoenixes and unicorns.

[/tediouslist-lovingnerd]

[Spudiator]

Hmmm, I might've been onto something there then. Makes sense that, since everything in STC was based around the games, if there were almost no reptiles in the game (and the turtles could've been easily missed since they were only in Sky Chase and immediately fell to certain death as soon as they were freed), there'd be none in the strips.

[Devo DrakeFox]

May 4, 2011 20:24:09 GMT ShayMay said:

May 4, 2011 20:19:46 GMT Pinchetel said:

Piggies are mammals. :3

I always thought Sidewinder existed on the same plane of "what the [censored] is he" as Plunder. I think he's thought of as a reptile because of his name, but otherwise, I lump him in with Plunder, Filch and Grimer, in the "various humanoids" category.

Filch? Filch is/was a salamander, I'm pretty sure. Definitely a reptile, given the tail and forked tongue.

[Pinchetel]

Salamanders are amphibians too, they just look like lizards (even though Salamanders are the older on an evolutionary scale).

[Devo DrakeFox]

I don't think so. Salamanders typically live in caves.

[ShayMay]

May 6, 2011 20:49:43 GMT Devo DrakeFox said:

I don't think so. Salamanders typically live in caves.

It's not debatable, salamanders are amphibians.

And I don't think so, most of the reptiles/amphibians on Mobius have reptilian/amphibian features. Filch has decidedly more human features, despite his forked tongue and tail; for example, his human-shaped facial features and his hair.
I still reckon there are various humanoids in addition to the woodland creatures.

[Calisto]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander

Salamanders are amphibians, Devo. Though there are cave salamanders.

www.marshall.edu/herp/Salamanders/cave.htm

I suppose I should add more to the conversation than this. A character I drew in the one comic I've drawn for STCO was a horned lizard, if I remember correctly. He was the bad guy in the Metallix scrap.

[Charles]

Mobius has historically suffered from racial divisions, with mammals and reptiles refusing to live near each other. The Special Zone, by contrast, was a far more enlightened place. (Or it could be what Sam and Spud said.)

Lew Stringer showed Mobius does have insects, but they're much smaller than the average Mobian. And anteaters were devouring helpless ants during the law-and-order decline when Robotnik fell! (Or it could've been a joke)

In one of Lew's Tails strips, there's a Mobian fish - wearing a wet suit and a glass helmet full of water. I loved that guy.

[Supermorff]

May 29, 2011 19:22:54 GMT Charles said:

In one of Lew's Tails strips, there's a Mobian fish - wearing a wet suit and a glass helmet full of water. I loved that guy.

Tim Tuna, the TV retuner. He appeared in two panels, had no lines, and was awesome.

[Fools in Miru]

Are there mobian crustaceans?

[L. T. Dangerous]

OK, seriously, miru, this thread was last posted in almost two years ago. This will not be a shock to you as you will have had to scroll through several pages to reach it.

[Chigs!]

There was the captain crab guy knuckles battled with for an issue, and the wiki tells me we had a guest star called "Crab C Nesbitt" which is pretty groansome

[Beeth]

If there is ever the Mobian equivalent of a dole queue depicted in STCO, the law states that Crab C Nesbitt be given a cameo at said moment. Ideally wearing a string vest made out of seaweed or summat.