BOOTLEG BLOG

Kitsunami the Fennec's potential to be one of the best Sonic antagonists

TW: THIS PAGE DISCUSSES THEMES OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND TRAUMA

I love the IDW published Sonic comics, the stories are super fun and can be extremely intense, a majority of the characters are written fantastically, and every problem there has been the writers have been actively trying to fix to the best of thier abilities and limitations forced by SEGA.

In the side comic Imposter Syndrome the writers introduced 2 original characters, Surge The Tenrec, who is basically the Scourge successer but also infinitely more interesting, and out little guy of the day, Kitsunami the Fennec, let's call him Kit.

Kit is easily my favorite original character from IDW, and that's a massive claim considering how fantastic all of the original characters have been, and I have some speculations on how Kit's arc could potentially go. And even if it doesn't then this could either be great fanfic fuel or great for a different Sonic storyline if the comic characters stopped being stuck in the comics.

Imposter Introduction

At the moment I'm writing this, we do not know Surge or Kit's past, and neither do they. Whoever Surge or Kit were formerly, they were captured by the villain Dr Starline against their will and forcibly hypnotized and mechanically enhanced to be the perfected versions of Sonic and Tails, with full intention by Dr Starline to be his key to overthrow Eggman and take center stage as the true super villain to fear.

Dr Starline put them both through tortuous tests in order to make them closer and closer to Sonic and Tails's abilities, basically killing them over, and over, and over, and wiping their memory over, and over, and over. Surge is the one who tends to talk back the most, she's meant to replace Sonic after-all, while Kit, he's constantly timid and on the side-lines, even more than Tails was when he was starting out.

Their biggest flaws in their programming is that they seem to have Sonic and Tails's negative traits amplified to the 100th degree. After failing to make much of a dent in Sonic's team after causing a forest fire in the main comic's story Surge starts to get extremely impatient with Dr Starline, yelling about how she wants, no, NEEDS to destory Sonic. That's what she's been training for anyways.

Dr Starline insists on continuing with his plan but Surge isn't listening, Kit tries to encourage Surge to go along with it but only gets snapped at, Kit being too insecure to really do much about it.
But as the argument continues, cracks in Dr Starline's programming start to show.

Surge starts to realized she's never even met Sonic, questioning why she wants to destroy him so bad if she doesn't even know why. Surge asks if Kit has the same urge and all he says is that he just has a strong need to help Surge, also with no reason he can think of.

Dr Starline hypontizes them into another memory blackout, however Surge actively fights against it this time, attempting to attack Starline before dropping cold.

After they wake up Dr Starline gaslights the two into thinking their upgrades overheated and caused them to glitch during an argument, while still implanting the idea of closeness between the two stating that Kit caught her fall before she could really be injured. With their memory reset, they continue on with the plan, the plan to break into an Eggman base and overthrow it.

Surge gets herself cornered by an Eggman robot and seemingly crushed by it, causing Kit to go into an intense rage. Though through this they discover they're basically invincible how quickly Kit snapped after Surge was put in danger will be important.

Of course Dr Starline is successful and Surge chooses to keep what happened a secret. Like before stuff is starting to not line up and she thinks something is up.

Kit uses his minor technical know-how coming from being modelled after Tails to gain access into Starline's system, and Starline being the self-centered individual he is he's made a diary entry for basically everything he's done. This being the moment Surge and Kit learn that their origins have been erased from their minds and the torture that Starline had been putting them through for his selfish need to show himself to be better than Eggman AND Sonic.



Another detail I'd like to note for later is the fact that it takes SIGNIFICANTLY less sessions for Kit to be brainwashed, though this is most likely because of him being younger than Surge, most likely somewhere from 9-12 while Surge is definitely 16 like Sonic, but the fact that it only took 33 sessions for Kit to become obsessed with Surge but it took 232 sessions for Surge to actively want Sonic dead is very telling.

Despite Starline's arrogance in his recordings he did make sure to delete any record of their previous lives, unluckily for him he's not gonna hypnotize them as easily anymore. Him being taken down and made to pass out by the two easily.

This gives Surge a brand new motive. Fuck Starline, fuck Eggman, fuck Sonic, fuck all of this role nonsense. No more heroes, no more villains, they'll destroy all of them, all of them playing a role in their entire identities being stolen from them, directly and indirectly. Kit proposes an idea, since Starline was already planning on gathering everyone to one spot anyways, how about they take advantage of that and double cross him?

Starline wakes up and the tables turn, Surge and Kit tricking him instead.

Though there is indeed more to talk about in this side comic, most involving Surge who honestly deserves a page of her own as well, and the two of them beating Metal Sonic in a fight, but I feel like I've set the stage for who Kit is.

We know how attached Kit is to Surge, to an unhealthy obsession. What would he do if Surge wasn't there?

Tails' Specular Reflection

A lot happens in issue 50, Surge and Sonic fight, Dr Starline fucking dies, Eggman's estranged daughter from when he had amnesia finds her brother Metal Sonic (long story), we see a lot of Kit's inner conflict though his interactions with Tails.

As Tails does, he uses his brain rather than raw power as he knows he'd easily get his shit kicked in by Kit, complimenting his water-bending gear and tries to request finding some sort of middle gorund. Tails can see Kit's anxieties very easily, offering friendship as they're both outsiders who have been rejected by the world, this however doesn't entirely go over well.

Kit begins to get overwhelmed as Tails asks him what he wants, repetitively saying that he doesn't know. Tails starts asking him about Starline, Kit then starts to open up about the torture Starline put him through. This being Tails' opening to offer a truce and help him take down Starline, but the moment he turns and says he'll get Sonic, Kit snaps.



This aggression increases attempting to attack Tails causes Kit to run out of water, and the moment he does he completely emotionally shuts down, crying for Surge to come and help him, even though Tails has no intention on hurting him.

Presumed Dead

in issue 50 the building Surge and Sonic were fighting in collapsed, Sonic had no choice but leave Surge behind and she basically accepted her potential death just to land the last hit on him, Kit however was saved by Tails, though unconcious, presumably having to do with his emotional shut down prior.

He finally wakes up in issue 52 in a complete panic, begging to return to Surge immediately. But the second Sonic starts instructing him on what to do he submits immediately, as if nothing happened.

Kit starts treating Sonic identically like he did with Surge, almost more-so as he's most likely under a deep state of stress being seperated from Surge. But sadly, Sonic must give Kit the bad news, at least the bad news that he believes is true.

Surge is dead.



Other than resulting in one of my favorite and most emotionally charged panels in the comic series, this sends Kit into another complete emotional shut down. Due to his shut down they have to leave him home alone while they go out to figure out what's going on in town. Being left behind with Belle, Eggman's estranged daughter in question.

Kit suddenly stands up after his completely shut down state, making his towards the door. Belle, seeing danger on the news, quickly blocks the door and insists that he needs to look after himself. Kit seems to be unable to grasp the idea of him being able to take care of himself.

As far as Kit knows, he's lost his only reason for existing, he NEEDS Sonic, he needs someone to serve, his own well being doesn't matter. No matter what Belle says.

But once he arrives what he finds is an injured but very much alive Surge, and once again the switch in his brain flips. No matter what Sonic claims, Kit is quickly convinced that he lied, he's come back to finish the job after his failed attempt to kill her. Surge was right, Sonic is a terrible terrible person that needs to die.

Plus, in Kit's eyes, why would Sonic want him anyways? He has Tails after all.

In the same issue shows one of the genuinely most terrifying scenes in the Sonic franchise as a whole in my opinion.

Kit hides the two of them in their old room when they lived with Starline, this along with the stress she's already in triggers something that was established in a previous issue but is the first time Kit is witnessing it, Surge is being plagued by trauma induced hallucinations of Starline.

It's really fucking distressing seeing Surge being tormented by these visions by the man that took everything from her, but it's cut suddenly by Kit hugging her and apologizing for leaving her.

The once fake bond the two shared just in an attempt to mimic Sonic and Tails has now become a true sibling bond, admittedly not the most healthy but really, they're the only ones who have each other. They know each others' trauma and fears. It's them against the cruel world, and only them.

I Got To Sinking Deeper...

Issue 56 is easily one of my favorite issues in IDW, one I'm sure I'm gonna be talking about both when I inevitably write about both Surge and Sonic, but I'm only focusing on Kit here, and the chain of events from his perspective.

Both Metal Sonic and Sonic have started to hang up the powered up Surge, Kit notices and goes in to grab Sonic, Tails intervenes immediately, but he moment he clarifies that he has no intention of hurting Kit but he'll never let him hurt Sonic, Kit seems to retreat.

Tails follows and confronts Kit, saying that he understands now the suffering he's endured but it doesn't justify the destruction, saying that Surge is just hurting herself in the process. And though Kit's aggression stops, it's hard to really tell what's going on in his mind.

Tails inevitably has to abandon Kit as Sonic is basically being electricuted to death, Surge overcharges and ends up unconcious. Tails helps Sonic up in a panic, and Eggman being Eggam immediately turns on the two and readys Metal Sonic to attack while Sonic is gravely injured, until Kit intervenes, but not to help Sonic and Tails.



Kit needs Surge, Surge needs Kit, an unhealthy dependancy that Surge keeps proving right, she'd be long dead without him after all.

From this point onwards every time we see Kit he's significantly angrier, especially if he's around anyone who isn't Surge.

There's more storylines with Kit as he's very active in the current arc along side Surge but I feel like this ties together my main point of writing this, other than just a character analysis on one of my favorite Sonic characters.

What If?

Something I've always found super interesting between these two is the fact that Surge clearly WANTS to be free of her programming, even if she's still following her programming to kill Sonic, she has a motive now. In her mind getting rid of Sonic will finally rid her of her obsession with killing him, making her truly free.

Kit never once seems to crave freedom, the closest he's gotten to some rebellion away from his code was against his will, when he thought Surge was dead. But even then he obeys Sonic's every word. It took significantly less time to convince Kit to be obsessed with Surge after all, so maybe there's something there with his true past? I don't know.

Surge is clearly a lot more likely to enter a redemption arc that Kit is, especially if she meets Shadow like basically every single fan wants. So what if she does? What if Surge were to at least become an anti-hero like Shadow? Her urge to kill Sonic no longer exists, realizing that's the thing that's preventing her from being free.

I don't think Kit would take kindly to that and I could see this going in many ways. We could have something similar to Nine from Sonic Prime but a lot less orginized where he feels so devistated by Surge basically going "Drippy, I think you should live for yourself" that he completely loses it and becomes just someone who hungers destruction.

Something I didn't mention but during issue 52 Kit fends off Metal Sonic single handedly easily, in combat, as long as he's not panicking, he can handle himself without Surge perfectly fine.

Or, the route I'd like to see, is Kit forcing Surge to continue with her original 'need' against her will. Holding Surge captive as Kit claims that it's for the best, that he's doing what she ACTUALLY wants, not what these evil people have tricked her into.

Kit has a lot of potential that I hope gets realized, I mean it was confirmed by the man himself Ian Flynn that if Surge were to get a romantic partner Kit would without question kill them. Kit is not a soft little baby, he is deeply traumatized and deeply unstable. I hope they let him be a little fucked up.

So please, to all writers on IDW, let Kit be fucked up and evil, I think he deserves it as a little treat.