Re: Bunnie Rabbot says hi...w/ a question (fwd)

From: Dan Drazen <drazen_at_andrews.edu>
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 09:13:51 -0500 (EST)

>
> Matt Penna,
> > Did it occur to any of you that we may never know Princess Sally's
> > real species?
>
> ..ohhh, this is potential flame-war material. :)
>
> I've covered this before (see the list-archive for my message from
> July 5th), and IMO the only consistent answer to Princess Sally's
> species is Weasel. There's the thin body, the brown pelt, the shape
> of her head, etc, etc, et al., et al.. In Sonic #26, one of the
> Arctic Mobians is Erma [the Ermine], and sans the white front (as
> all European stoats have), she and Sally are identical in appearance.
> Draz should mention this in the FAQ. :)
>

The reason I don't mention the weasel theory in the FAQ file question is
that it is absurd! For a number of reasons:

1) The comics, for better or worse, are consistent in labeling Sally as
a "squirrel," more likely a ground squirrel. One of the reasons the
debate has flared up from time to time is that readers are unwilling to
take the description at face value and indulge in wishful thinking.
There's no point in holding to the canonicity of certain sources if
you're not going to take them at face value on subjects that cut across
your own preferences.

2) I would be the LAST person to cite artwork by Manak (especially of
subsidiary characters and guest stars) as keys to character
identification. In my summary of the story in Sonic #26 I cite all the
features where Manak went wrong, just as he ended up drawing Barby Koala
in the Tails miniseries looking more like a sexy lab rat than a true
koala!

3) Finally, consider Sonic himself! Hedgehogs are not royal blue, nor
do they only have one ridge of quills running down the back. I know
this is being too picky, but everybody seems content to accept the
identification of Sonic as a hedgehog at face value.
 
> What evidence is there for the claim Sally is a [ground] squirrel or
> chipmunk, eh? The colour of the pelt and its markings aren't even
> there.. (Well, at least that extremely contrived idea that Sally is
> a Fox who fell for that foolish adolescent fad of having her tail
> bobbed appears to have been forgotten.. Self-mutilation, ick.)
>
> Matt,
> > Personally, I think she was adopted. I think she's
> > a cross between a squirrel and a chipmunk. What do you think?
> Doug,
> > Maybe a hybrid fox?
>
> There isn't any evidence in the Mobian universe for the existence
> of cross-breeds..

Apparently you've never seen either "Sally's Crusade" from the In Your
Face special #1, or "The Return" in Sonic #22. Each of those stories
posits a future wherein Sonic & Sally have tied the knot and have
offspring of their own: in each story, the children are the same gender
and species as a parent [i.e., a little boy hedgehog and a little girl
squirrel]. So like it or not, there's your "evidence."

> A theory proposed in the very early days of the
> mailing list is the character's species is determined by the
> appropriate parent, that is, Sally's Mum was a Weasel too.
> (Whatever happened to the Queen anyway?)
>

Her fate has never been determined canonically, nor her origins. I
expressed my own theory in my fanfic story, "Bloodlines." Note: it
isn't pretty....

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Received on Mon Jan 15 1996 - 09:38:29 PST