Background
In the year 3437 P.X.E (Post-Xorda Era) of the original Mobius Prime timeline, the world had been devastated. The Space Colony Ark had crashed from space and was burning in the horizon, Angel Island had also been ripped from the skies and was half-sunken in the sea, and entire cities had been ruined. Mere pockets of civilization remained, and among them was Silver the Hedgehog. Gifted with incredible psychokinetic powers and a strong sense of justice, the young Silver was driven to save his world by any means necessary. According to the history books, the cataclysmic event that led to his world’s devastation was one of the legendary Knothole Freedom Fighters from the time of Sonic the Hedgehog betraying the group and destroying them. Armed with this knowledge, Silver would make several trips back to Sonic’s time (and across multiple zones) to find this traitor and destroy them.
Unfortunately for Silver however, time was not on his side. With many details lost to his hundreds of years of history, he had almost no information about who the traitor actually was, leading to several false charges and fatal mistakes on his part, in no doubt also caused by his own naivety and impatience. After being stranded in the past after another failed attempt, Silver joined the Secret Freedom Fighters to help fight Ixis Naugus’ plans to rule the Kingdom of Acorn as well as enlist the help of Harvey Who to help him track down the true identity of the traitor.
Eventually, Harvey revealed to Silver that the traitor was none other than the leader of the group, Sally Acorn herself. Or at least that’s how the history books told it, when in actuality she had been roboticized and forced to fight the Freedom Fighters against her will. Heading to the northern tundra, Silver fought alongside Sonic, Tails and Amy to save their friend, and he actually managed to succeed, before everything went white…
Rules of the Analysis
This analysis is essentially going to be split into three layers. The main focus of the analysis is going to be on Silver in the original Archie Sonic timeline since this is where he has the most history and feats to go over.
The second layer is going to be post-reboot Archie Silver and the events that take place in the two Mega Man crossovers, the Silver Age arc of Sonic Universe, FCBD story and SU Issue 75.
Finally, since it’s been confirmed multiple times that many of the events of the mainline Sonic games (minus Unleashed) are canon to the post-reboot Archie timeline (and Sonic 06 even being canon to the original timeline), even being dubbed “quasi-canon” by the Mobius Encyclopedia page, I will also be including them in the analysis as well. However, they will be marked by italics to make it clear that they do not make any specific appearances in the Archie Comics run.
Experience
While being 14-years old makes Silver younger than a lot of the main Archie cast, he has received much more formal training with his powers than the rest of them. While the likes of Sonic and the Freedom Fighters are mostly self-taught (barring some exceptions), Silver has been mentored by Mammoth Mogul and Edmund since he was young in how to use his psychokinesis and control the energies of the Time Stone, as well as your standard old mentor wisdom. While it was never confirmed what the term means, it was briefly mentioned that Silver was being trained to become a “Knight of Kronos”, which are rumoured to be an elite few who guarded Little Planet and the Time Stones throughout history.
While Silver has spent most of his appearances working solo, he did join the Secret Freedom Fighters in their fight against Naugus for a short period of time before the Super Genesis Wave rewrote the universe.
Arsenal
Time Stone
The Time Stones are gems that allow the user to travel to almost any point in history, a technique known as Chronos Control. Silver possessed the orange time stone which he could call to his person or send away whenever it was necessary. It can also be used on another person besides the user, as Mogul used it to send Silver back in time. By tapping into its energies, Silver is also able to detect anomalies in space-time, such as when someone else has travelled to his Zone.
Through his multiple uses of the Time Stone, Silver has actually been de-synced from time itself. Whenever he goes back to the past and changes something in it, it alters the future that he hails from, but he’s the only person who remains unaffected by its changes. This forces him to have to relearn the last 200 years of history each time.
It is important to note that despite their similar designs and the use of “Chronos Control”, there isn’t any evidence to suggest that the Time Stones are chaos magic like the Power Rings or Chaos Emeralds are.
Super Warp Ring
During his first appearance, Silver used a Super Warp Ring which also allows him to travel through time and space, even across Zones. By simply touching the ring and thinking of his destination, it would open up a portal to where he thought to be. Silver initially used the Super Warp Ring because he wasn't confident about using the Time Stone, but has since forgone using them.
Power Rings
The Power Rings, or Magic Rings as they are sometimes referred to, are by-products of the Chaos Emeralds’ magic. Described as “energy given form”, they can be used for a variety of different purposes, such as enhancing physical power, powering machines, granting insight, or even empowering wishes. The Super Warp Ring that Silver carries is actually a technologically-modified version of the Power Rings created by Dr. Finitevus that’s been super amped in power to allow one to travel across not only space, but time.
In the Complete Encyclopedia, it’s confirmed that Silver can use their power to restore himself if he runs low on energy from overusing his power.
Glove
In the second Archie continuity, Silver’s gloves actually have a purpose besides just being a cool design element. They can pull up maps of budding Genesis Portals so that he knows where to find them.
Chaos Emeralds
Chaos Emeralds are magical gemstones that possess an infinite amount of power. Though their origins are unknown, they appear to be the physical manifestations of the Chaos Force, the all-encompassing energy of the universe and embodiment of all Chaos Energy. While there were initially hundreds of Green Emeralds on Mobius, and hundreds of six more variants on other planets in the universe, they were all merged down into seven by Feist after Turbo Tails and Super Shadow sent them to the Zone of Silence during the Great Harmony.
With their power, Silver is able to attain the form of Super Silver.
In Sonic 06, Blaze tells Silver to use their power to stop time for her and Iblis and seal them in another dimension. He can also use them with another person as a means of performing Chaos Control and travelling through time.
Abilities
Psychokinesis
Silver’s primary power is his psychokinesis, a telekinetic ability that allows him to guide and manipulate energy, that which moves all matter as it is described by Mammoth Mogul. This is an important distinction to make from Silver’s game counterpart, in that his power isn’t simply to move things with his mind, but to manipulate psychic energies. As Mogul also describes, this means that Silver’s powers are as limitless as his imagination and he is theoretically capable of almost anything so long as he thinks of it. As such, he has used his powers in a variety of different ways throughout his appearances.
He can trap people in his psychokinetic energy and control their movements, either immobilizing them, throwing them around or carrying them with him, though he says he needs to be actually focusing on them to make sure they don't escape it. It is possible to escape his hold if they have enough power, however. This also works on himself and allows him to fly, though if his focus is broken it can make him fall.
His powers can be used to catch an enemies’ attacks and throw them back at them in several fashions, such as creating a bowl to catch the energy or cyclones to turn it all back. Similarly, he also uses his powers to prevent his opponents from getting their weapons. He can also use them to pick up surrounding objects to use as either offense or defense, even forming them into new structures for stronger attacks, similar to his Meteor Smash from Sonic Generations.
The bubble that it creates around a given object also works as a shield, allowing him to contain explosions or protect himself and others. He even once used it to create a bubble underwater that allowed everyone within it to breathe. Silver’s psychokinesis also has a passive effect of turning off any machinery he uses it on, though this does not destroy them and a simple reboot can get them up and running again.
The glow from his powers can also be used to light up darkened passageways. He can create bursts of psychic energy to blow opponents back or even whirlwinds of it to shatter his surroundings. Finally, his powers were the key to closing the Genesis Portals in the new continuity, as his psychic frequency re-harmonized the dimensional fragments, showing that they also work on non-physical matter as well.
Being a mind-based ability however, Silver’s powers are only as fast as he is and can be outraced if someone can “move even faster than he can think”.
In Sonic 06, Silver has a couple of special moves that he can use with his psychokinesis. He can use the Psycho Smash technique to charge up psychic energy and launch it at a target, throwing them back. Similarly, he can use a Psycho Shock to charge up energy and release it as a shockwave against the ground, paralyzing targets caught in its field.
In Sonic Generations, Silver can create a wide blade of psychic energy known as a Psychic Knife to throw at a target. He can also teleport short distances without the use of Chaos Control through the Teleport Dash, in which he uses his telekinesis to “warp space” and travel at extreme speeds.
Extra-Sensory Perception
Silver has some limited ESP abilities. This extra-sensory perception allows him to communicate with others via telepathy. When powered up by machinery, he was even able to undo the mind-control placed on Rotor's herd and make it so they could never be controlled again. But as far as combat-use goes, he admits to not being very proficient with it, with the most he can really do being to give someone a headache.
In Sonic Rivals, his ESP powers allow him to release a field of psychic energy that confuses any targets caught in it and messes up their sense of direction.
Chaos Magic
The Chaos Emeralds and Power Rings have a couple of other miscellaneous abilities besides the previously stated. They can resist transmutation for one, as shown when Ixis Naugus was unable to damage Eggman’s Death Egg Mk. II with his crystalline magic as its exterior had been reinforced with Power Rings. The crystalline magic powered by a Chaos Emerald also reverted Bunnie Rabbot’s roboticized body parts back into flesh and blood. Mammoth Mogul used the power of a Chaos Emerald to protect himself and several comrades from the life-draining and mind/soul-erasing powers of the Egg Grapes, and Monkey Khan could resist the Iron Queen’s control of him with her technomancy magic so long as he wore his Power Ring crown.
Physical Prowess
While Silver is primarily known for his mind-bending abilities, he is almost as physically capable as many of the Sonic cast’s more physical fighters. Silver has shown that he is able to run fast enough to keep up with Sonic and can perform many of the iconic moves from the series. This includes the Homing Attack, where he rockets towards an enemy in close-enough range, and the Spin Dash, where he curls into a ball and rips through anything that gets in his way with his hedgehog quills.
Forms
Super Silver
With the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, Silver is able to achieve a Super Form like only a select few more can. There is of course a big elephant in the room in that Silver hasn’t technically accessed his Super Form in Archie canon. However, it was confirmed in the Sonic Comic Encyclopedia that he does indeed have it, as well as the fact that the events of Sonic 06 and Solaris’ defeat are canon to the timeline, so it will be included for the sake of examining his maximum potential. As such, many of the feats and abilities from this section will be taken from the events of Sonic 06 or scaling him to other Super folks so long as they should reasonably have the same base set of abilities.
The Super Form greatly enhances all of Silver’s physical abilities, granting him (near) invulnerability to almost any attack and boosting his speeds to unfathomable levels. He can phase through targets, put up forcefields to shield himself from damage, shoot beams of Chaos Energy, resist matter manipulation, travel through time (albeit this hedgehog already could), and even rewind a short period of time!
But the greatest ability granted by the Super Forms is that of Chaos Control. According to Sonic, the Chaos Control technique allows the user to directly turn “dreams into reality”, which was strong enough that it could be used to rewrite the entirety of the multiverse! And it’s worth noting that while there is a level of proficiency involved in using Chaos Control, Super Mega Man was perfectly capable of rewriting his own reality (without messing everything up) despite never hearing about the technique before.
In the fight against Solaris, Silver uses the Shield of Light ability which surrounds him in a field of telekinetic energy that automatically catches and throws back any projectiles that get caught in it. While in the Super Silver form, Silver’s psychokinesis is greatly enhanced, allowing him to grasp more objects from a greater distance and wield them with far more strength than he had before.
Feats
Power
Grabs one of Tikhaos' limbs and tosses it back in their face
Releases a burst of psychic energy to destroy rock slabs and blow back the prelates
Cracks off part of the building Enerjak is on and throws it around
Busts out of the concrete with a whirlwind of psychic energy
Busted Enerjak's statue with Enerjak and throws him way off the island
Scaling
The Super Genesis Wave shattered Sonic's multiverse and affected Sonic and Mega Man's multiverses, which is confirmed to be filled with an infinite amount of universes, in the past, present, and future
Speed
Picks up and Edmund and stops the garbage bin at the same time
Tries to talk his way out of fighting six prelates at once, dodges all their lasers
Scaling
Durability
Silver and everyone else having been pummelled by Super Scourge
Psychic shield holds up against Prelate-V's lasers, which can cut through buildings
Takes a Spin Dash from Sonic and gets dragged by the quills to the hospital
Takes a hit from the resulting shockwave of the Genesis Portal closing and falls, but is okay
Weaknesses
As previously stated, Silver’s powers being controlled by his mind can lead to a number of weaknesses. For starters, targets faster than him will be fully capable of outracing his powers and his psychokinetic hold on targets can be interrupted if he’s attacked, especially unfortunate if he’s using it for flight. It is also possible to break out of his psychokinetic hold if one has enough power to dispel it or simply overpower it with brute force in some specific cases.
One of Mogul’s lessons to Silver that the young hedgehog doesn’t always follow is that ultimate power ultimately corrupts. Silver sometimes gets too confident in his abilities and accomplishments which can lead to mistakes such as letting his guard down or getting too caught up in a fight and forgetting about restraints.
And as you might expect from a 14-year old without a lot of social interaction outside of his cranky and cryptic teachers, he can be a bit immature, fairly awkward and unsure of what to do in certain social scenarios. His eagerness to do good and save his world is also a bad mix with his naivety, as he frequently uses his psychokinesis’ flight to perform the most amazing leaps in logic you’ve ever seen, like assuming Rotor is the traitor and an entirely different person because he changed his name or that someone who he didn't even know was the traitor because she suddenly left after her husband went into a coma. Like, come on dude.
And finally, as with all Super Forms, the Super Silver may give the telekinetic hedgehog incredible power, but it works on a time limit and will eventually run out and revert him back to his base form if he doesn’t replenish on Chaos Energy from either the Emeralds or Power Rings.
misc
It kind of sucks being Silver honestly, because the dude is NEVER able to keep his future safe for very long. Throughout the whole franchise, he’s had a full mix of everything being on fire (Sonic 06), everything being on fire again but this time Eggman’s kid did it (Sonic Rivals), your standard ruins with almost everyone gone and both the ARK and Angel Island having crashed into the ocean (Pre-SGW Archie), dystopian fascist rulers with literal holes appearing in the space-time continuum (Post-SGW Archie), everything is briefly okay (Sonic Colors), back to the fire future again (Sonic Generations), the Eggman Empire ruling everything (Sonic Forces/IDW), and every living thing having deteriorated after getting infected with the Metal Virus (IDW). Let’s see how long his current streak lasts (I give him about 15 more issues).
No comments:
Post a Comment