- "Not much is known yet about Trip, the mysterious girl first encountered by Fang on the Northstar Islands. While a bit clumsy, Trip is heavily armored and has been enlisted by Fang and Dr. Eggman to protect and guide them around the wonders of this uncharted region."
- ― Description, Sonic Superstars website
Trip the Sungazer[3] (トリップ・ザ・サンゲイザー[4], Torippu za Sangeizā) is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. She is an anthropomorphic sungazer lizard[2] that inhabits the Northstar Islands. She was once hired by Dr. Eggman and Fang the Hunter to guide them through the archipelago's areas[5] before defecting from them and joining Sonic and his friends. She is the current guardian of the Northstar Islands.[6]
Concept and creation[]
Trip's final designs alongside some earlier designs and concepts.
Trip was jointly created by Takashi Iizuka and Naoto Ohshima as part of the development on Sonic Superstars. As the pair were discussing the game's story, they felt they needed to introduce a new character; one that would have a background and unique characteristics, as well as being a character that people could empathize with and enjoy. That the character would fit in with the setting was of particular importance to Iizuka and the team, as he recognized that previous games had tended to introduce new characters as enemies, and strong ones at that (he has cited Infinite as an example of this). For the new character, they wanted to do something different.[7]
Trip was primarily designed by Ohshima, though worked closely with Iizuka to come up with ideas for the new character. They sent visuals back and forth and had an ongoing dialogue as to the character's personality. Ideas for the character included an armored lizard and the ouroboros. Trip was made a sungazer lizard. The Japanese translation of sungazer is "armored lizard" she's covered in armor is a reflection of this.[7]
While Trip is an antagonist, her style of presentation was designed to be different from previous villains, in that when players first see her, she's presented as clumsy.
Appearance[]
Trip is a brown and orange-scaled anthropomorphic sungazer lizard with black eyes and peach skin covering her muzzle and arms. She has two eyelashes on each side of her eyes, a small brown-pointed horn on her muzzle, three yellow spikes across her brown forehead, and a brown and orange zigzag-striped tail. Trip's ears are orange and shaped like the spikes on her forehead. She wears a brown and yellow zigzag-layered dress-like sleeveless shirt with a gold patch on the chest, white gloves with gold cuffs, black tights, and orange shoes with gold toes and brown cuffs and heel-squared regions.
As for Trip's armor, it consists of blocky bronze pieces attached to her cuffs, a bronze bucket-like helmet with black circular eye lenses that has gold frames, a darker row of three gold spikes on its front and studs, a bulky bronze armor with studs on the waist front covering her torso, and brown shoes with circular bronze pieces attached to her cuffs and blocky bronze soles with studs on the toes.
History[]
Sonic Superstars: Fang's Big Break[]
Trip first appears wearing her armor after Fang the Hunter runs afoul of a Giant Flicky and captures it in retribution, causing her to try and fight him with a spear, though she trips and drops the weapon, causing Fang to strong-arm her into working for him and Dr. Eggman in discovering the Northstar Islands' secrets.
Sonic Superstars: Trio of Trouble[]
Trip working with Fang and Dr. Eggman, from Sonic Superstars: Trio of Trouble.
After Fang jolted awake from his nightmare, he continued to escort Eggman and Trip through an unnamed temple. However, while Fang and Eggman were trying to locate the hidden message, Trip crawled through a crevice to find a flower, which, to her dismay, is crushed by Eggman. Eggman also was trying to decode the message while Fang and Trip were busy fighting a giant snake. In the final scenes of the fight, Trip throws Tails' battery at Fang, of which he used to recharge his Marvelous Queen. That said, both Fang and Trip defeated the snake. When Fang was rejoicing however, it appears as if he took all the credit for himself, and left nothing for Trip, leaving her seemingly distraught. Worse still, she proceeded to walk up to and touch the snake of whom Fang "defeated", with some connotations of her feeling seemingly regretful.
Sonic Superstars[]
Main Story[]
During the game's intro, Trip oversaw the conversion of the giant Animals of the Northstar Islands into Badniks with Dr. Eggman and Fang. She also panically follows Fang as the latter is closely studying the drawing Eggman made earlier only to trip and collide with him before he exited the facility, causing him to severely dress her down as she nods in shame before the alarms reveal Sonic and Tails' impending arrival.[5]
Some time later, Fang accidentally runs into Trip during his pursuit of Sonic at the end of the hedgehog's personalized act in Speed Jungle Zone. This causes Fang to be very angry at Trip for standing in his way. At the end of Speed Jungle Zone Act 2, Trip would follow the four protagonists (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy) with Fang in hot pursuit, still furious. This caused Trip to trip and drop her remote control, accidentally activating a trap which captured Fang. This prompted Trip to panic.[8] At the end of Lagoon City Zone Act 1, Trip presses a button on her remote control, to activate a trap door that the protagonists run over, but the trap door doesn't open up, which causes Trip to worry. Later, Trip steps onto the trap door and presses the button again, but still nothing happens. Fang gets a bit impatient from all this, causing Trip to repeatedly press the button in panic before realizing she made a big mistake before the trap door opens and she falls down, much to Fang's horror.
Upon getting back up and looking around, Trip finds herself all alone and cries from fear and isolation. Amy comes across Trip during the hedgehog's personalized act in Lagoon City Zone and calms down the armored lizard. Amy then carries Trip through the remainder of the former's personalized act until they reach the end, where Amy gives Trip an apple that she picked up earlier, making her very happy. Trip happily waves goodbye to Amy as she continues on her journey with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. At the end of Golden Capital Zone Act 1 and near the beginning of Knuckles' personalized act in the said zone, Trip is seen getting kidnapped by Fang. At the end of Golden Capital Zone Act 2, Trip arrives to keep Fang from using the Chaos Emeralds that Sonic and his friends collected throughout the game, but that only results in Fang kicking Trip away. Finally fed up with Fang's abuse, Trip gets back up on her feet in rage, which shocks Fang, right before she takes off her armor, revealing her regular self. Trip then uses the Chaos Emeralds to transform into her Golden Dragon form. But that doesn't stop Fang as the four protagonists and Trip watch Fang getting inside his colossal mech. Trip then breaks inside the mech and destroys it, taking Fang with it. Trip changes back into her normal form as the Chaos Emeralds return to Sonic and company. Feeling very happy to see each other again, Amy and Trip both run up to each other. Then, Amy introduces her new friend to Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, but Trip’s shyness kicks in and puts on her helmet. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles chuckle before Trip peeks from under her helmet and smiles.
The first part of the game's ending cutscene shows Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Trip escaping the exploding Egg Fortress Zone in Tails' renovated Egg Mobile. The second part of the ending cutscene show the crew back on solid ground in the Northstar Islands as the newly freed Animals celebrate Sonic and co.'s victory over Eggman, and Sonic gets Trip to shake his hand to celebrate their new friendship.
Trip's Story[]
Trip's story begins with the lizard having fun with the Animals, before noticing one of Eggman's creations flying right by them. Trip then takes off her helmet and goes on her own journey to see what's going on. During Egg Fortress Zone Act 2, Trip has a one-on-one battle with Fang, first in his heavily armored Marvelous Queen, then in his fully restored colossal mech. Trip destroys Fang's mech once and for all, causing the purple jerboa to fly right towards the screen and comically crashing into it. The first part of the ending cutscene is a shortened version of the main game's ending, where a renovated Egg Mobile escapes the exploding Egg Fortress Zone. The second part of the ending cutscene shows the Animals, Sonic and Tails, celebrating Trip's return to the Northstar Islands after her battle against Fang. The cutscene ends with Trip blushing a bit and putting on her helmet.
Last Story[]
This story's ending cutscene has Trip holding up the Black Onyx and using it to seal the Black Dragon inside once and for all. Once the beast is sealed back inside its "egg", The Animals, along with Sonic's friends, celebrate Sonic and Trip's victory. The cutscene ends with Eggman's crudely drawn picture of the dragon from the intro cutscene floating back down towards the ground.
Personality[]
Trip upon seeing lonely flowers, from Sonic Superstars: Trio of Trouble.
While Trip is rather sinister in appearance, she notably is seen to be collective and being the most under-credited of the trio, with all the credit going either to Fang or Eggman. She also has some degree of good intent in her, as evidenced by her expressions of sadness whenever any life in general is lost right before her eyes, like when Eggman steps on flowers or when Fang captures a giant Flicky.
In truth after all, Trip is a docile and empathetic sungazer lizard girl, that gets easily shy by the simple gaze of anyone to her face if not using her characteristic helmet, and has a sensible side, bursting into tears when in desperation and also being innocently friendly to anyone who approaches her without malice. Although sensible and with a heart of gold, even Trip has her limits on being tolerable with bad people, especially with Fang. After being hurt by Fang one last time, Trip finally lost her patience and revealed her face in front of everyone, and as much for Sonic and friends surprise (and Fang's disgrace), Trip does also have the ability on channeling the Chaos Emeralds power, transforming herself into a Golden Dragon. In serious moments, and as well at Golden Dragon form, Trip is brave and determined to finish things immediately. She also apparently has knowledge on ancient magic powers such as the ability on using the Chaos Emerald power and using the mysterious purple gem to seal the Black Dragon.
Although being now at the side of the heroes, Trip still is very shy (or maybe, pretty much remorseful of everything she did despite being forced to do) always putting her helmet in fear of being seen for much time, but despite that, Trip is easily overjoyed on having her new friends.
Powers and abilities[]
Trip seems to have knowledge in making traps and technology. Outside her armor, she can use the power of the Chaos Emeralds in order to protect her friends, using normally against normal enemies or reaching her maximum potential when fighting really bad beings, such as Fang. Using the Chaos Emeralds, Trip transforms into a golden, dragon-like form that allows her to fly, breathe streams of fire, and become invincible.
Trip's rolling appearance, from Sonic Superstars.
Trip has a double jump ability that allows her to reach heights that some others cannot. Despite her clumsiness she can be quite agile. She also has the ability to stick to both walls and ceilings with her spiky exterior, allowing her to roll up a wall, scale different surfaces or climb on a ceiling. Trip is also capable of breathing out a small fireball on her own without a super form (as shown with her extra Emerald ability).
Equipment and weapons[]
In Fang's Big Break, Trip is seen provoking Fang with a spear before tripping on a vine and dropping it, causing the jerboa to snap it with his foot. In the main game, Trip is seen with multiple triggers for different traps and a trap door, which backfires on her. She isn’t seen with lots of weapons or equipment throughout the story.
Relationships[]
Fang the Hunter[]
An annoyed Fang gets ready to kick Trip, from Sonic Superstars.
Initially, Trip was afraid of disobeying Fang the Hunter, as he was bossing her around and treating her badly due to her clumsiness. Fang had little-to-no care about Trip's safety, not even helping her to get out from her own trap at Lagoon City, a fact that caused Trip to cry in despair realizing that Fang was really evil. After such situation and befriending Amy Rose and Sonic’s team, Trip gains determination to stop Fang, and after he injuries her with a kick, Trip finally lost her composure and fought back the jerboa. It is easy to assume that Fang and Trip has a very antagonistic relationship from this point.
Amy Rose[]
Amy meeting Trip, from Sonic Superstars.
At Lagoon City, Amy Rose found Trip, who was sobbing in distress at the time, who quickly becomes afraid of Amy, only to realize that Amy was trying to help her. After helping Trip on getting out from the trap, Amy and Trip built a friendship together, with Amy giving an apple to Trip, an act of kindness that causes Trip to be overjoyed. They meet up after Trip, in her Dragon Form defeats Fang and are very happy to see each other. After defeating Eggman they escape together with the boys when they land Amy is seen hugging animals as Trip smiles as they both love taking care of the animals and after the last story Amy and Tails smile at Sonic and Trip for defeating the dragon.
Friends/allies[]
Enemies[]
- Black Dragon
- Dr. Eggman[5]
- Fang the Hunter[5]
- Metal Fighters
- Metal Amy
- Metal Knuckles
- Metal Sonic
- Metal Tails
- Metal Trip (robotic doppelgänger)
Trivia[]
- Trip is the first character since Knuckles' Chaotix that Naoto Ohshima has personally created. Additionally, her spin attack is similar to Vector's spin attack from that game.
- Trip is the second female antagonist in the Sonic series that reforms, following Merlina the Wizard. Unlike her, however, Trip gets reformed before the end of the game.
- She is one of two antagonists that reforms because of Amy's kindness, the other being Shadow the Hedgehog in Sonic Adventure 2, and its enhanced port; Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
- Trip is the third female character in the game series to have a super form, following Blaze and Amy.
- She is also the second one to have a super form caused by the Chaos Emeralds, following Amy.
- She is also currently the only character to have her species change upon transformation, that being from a sungazer lizard to a full-blown baby dragon.
- She is also the second one to have a super form caused by the Chaos Emeralds, following Amy.
References[]
- ↑ "Tracker on Twitter". Twitter. June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
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: - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Meet Trip, The First New Sonic Character Created By Naoto Ohshima In Decades". Game Informer. August 2, 2023. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
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: - ↑ "Sonic Superstars Official Site Characters|SEGA". Sonic Superstars. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
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: - ↑ "『ソニックスーパースターズ』公式サイト キャラクター|SEGA". 『ソニックスーパースターズ』 . Retrieved September 24, 2023.
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: - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Sonic Superstars". June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
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: - ↑ "Sonic Says "Let's Go, Gamers!" | BumbleKast for October 23rd, 2023 - Ian Flynn Q&A Podcast (14:42)". YouTube. BumbleKing Videos. October 23, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
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: - ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Meet Trip, The First New Sonic Character Created By Naoto Ohshima In Decades". Game Informer. August 2, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
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: - ↑ "原点回帰の2Dソニック『ソニックスーパースターズ』10分のゲームプレイ". YouTube. June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
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