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Princess Sally Alicia Acorn is a fictional character appearing in the American saturday morning cartoon Sonic the Hedgehog (commonly referred to as "SatAM") from 1993 to 1995, as well as the ongoing Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series published by Archie Comics. In the television show, she is voiced by Kath Soucie.^[1]

Nominally based on the generic squirrel character freed from Badniks in the original Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Sally has been depicted in various different ways across various media.

Sally is most known for her appearances as a leading character in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic and DiC's Sonic the Hedgehog. Sally is a female, anthropomorphic, humanoid squirrel, though her exact species differs from depiction to depiction - the Archie comic describes her as part-squirrel and part-chipmunk (a subspecies of squirrel), while in DiC's cartoon, she is simply a ground squirrel. Sally is usually seen sporting a blue vest and knee-high boots. In both the animated show and the Archie comic, Sally underwent changes to her color scheme, although the Archie version has seen the most changes (see "Early development", below). For her finished design, Sally has brown fur and red hair.

Beyond DiC's cartoon series and Archie's comic, Sally has appeared in STI's Sonic Spinball for Sega Genesis as a non-playable character in a bonus stage, and has made cameo appearances in Sonic Christmas Blast. She was intended to be a playable character in the planned Sega Genesis game Sonic Mars, which would have incorporated characters and elements from the animated show/comic, but the project was changed to Sonic Xtreme and later dropped.^[2]

Sally has also appeared in the very different continuity used in UK media - the Stay Sonic guidebook, a brief cameo in Sonic the Comic, and associated novels. Here, Sally is not a princess, and is very different in design from her Archie/DiC counterpart, remaining essentially unchanged from the generic squirrel video game sprite that inspired her.

Princess Sally Acorn as she appears in the first season of the Saturday morning cartoon.

In Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon (aka SatAM), Sally is the formal leader of the Freedom Fighters. Sonic the Hedgehog and Antoine Depardieu both show their affection for Sally through displays of courage and wit, as well as trying to prove each other's incompetence.^[3] Sally is something of a mother figure to Tails, as she is frequently seen reading him bedtime stories before putting him to bed.

Sally's main goals are to overthrow Doctor Robotnik and free her father, the King, from The Void. She is depicted as moderate and down-to-earth, discouraging others from addressing her by her title. In the episode Sonic and Sally, Sally's robotic double mocks this trait by saying "Oh, don't get up. I am a princess, but out in the great forest, titles are meaningless."^[4] After Sonic and Sally destroy the Doomsday device and (presumably) Robotnik in the final episode, Sally flirts with Sonic and tries to kiss him, but Sonic speeds off with Sally in pursuit. At a later ceremony, Sally and Sonic reveal their feelings for each other with a kiss. Sonic also kisses Sally in the episode hooked on Sonic. to see which one kissed better. ^[5]

As with the majority of the cast, Sally's character design was updated for season 2; Sally is given pupils for her blue eyes, which she lacked in season one. She also dons a blue vest, though she still carries around her portable computer, NICOLE, attached to one of her boots (previously her only attire.) zz

In the fictional of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, Sally is the Daughter of King Maximillian and Queen Alicia Acorn. She has a long-lost older brother named Elias, whom she initially does not even know exists. At the onset of the series, Sally is the last heiress to the throne.

Sally's family ruled over Mobotropolis for several generations. Their dynasty ended shortly after the Great War, after which a treacherous Warlord named Julian Kintobor -- a defector who helped King Acorn win the war -- staged a coup d'etat and took over the kingdom. Re-christened Ivo Robotnik, the newly-proclaimed dictator turned the city into an industrial wasteland. In addition, and used his roboticizers to transfigure the city's population into mindless robot slaves. The five-year-old Sally was hidden from Robotnik's grasp and sent to live in the protected Knothole Village hidden within the Great Forest. Sally grew up to lead a band of ragtag rebel militiamen from Knothole starting at age 10, living alongside her friends, her governess Rosie, and the elderly Julayla (who Sally sees as her grandmother).

Sally's 3-part mini-series, which included the debut of Geoffrey St. John (sillouette visible on the left). This solo adventure marks the first appearance of NICOLE.

The ultimate goal of the Freedom Fighters is to oust the oppressive tyrant Robotnik and restore the Kingdom of Acorn. Hidden deep within the Great Forest in the rebel headquarters of Knothole (and in relatively close proximity to Robotropolis), the Freedom Fighters carry out guerrilla attacks on Robotnik's operations. Seeing the Princess as a threat to his control, Robotnik makes her capture a top priority. A scheme to replace Sally with a malevolent robotic double nearly works, with a secondary plan of creating a whole line of robots modeled off of each of the Freedom Fighters soon to follow. The real Sally uncovers this plot, unmasks the fake Sally, and destroys the rest of Robotnik's duplicates.^[6]

Robotnik later manages to infiltrate Knothole with a duplicate of King Max. A traitorous Freedom Fighter named Drago arranges for Sally's assassination, pinning the blame on Sonic in an elaborate frameup.^[7] Robotnik then appears unexpectedly in Knothole after the fake King Max leaks its location. After arriving at the Freedom Fighters' doorstep and holding them all hostage, Robotnik announces his plan to use the rebel headquarters as a testing ground for his super-weapon, with which he intends to eradicate all non-robotic life on the planet. His "Endgame" scheme is nevertheless foiled by the rebellion, and Robotnik is vaporized during the weapon's backfiring.^[8]

In the wake of Robotnik's defeat, Sally works hard to re-establish the old kingdom. The desolate wasteland of Robotropolis is difficult to rebuild, and discrimination against "Robians" (Roboticized Mobians who regained their self-awareness) threatens to spark a civil war. A new Robotnik arrives from a alternate reality and quickly retakes Mobotropolis. He is destroyed in battle, but through the digital transfer of his mind into a new robotic body, he is able to live on as "Dr. Eggman". For a time, Sally presides over the newly-established Kingdom of Knothole, a haven from Eggman until he too, like Robotnik, learns of its location.

Early on the series, Princess Sally loses her mentor Julayla when she passes away. Immediately afterward, she is sent a "friend" in the form of NICOLE, a compact super computer that originates from an alternative future where Sally is Queen. Feeling that her past self would seriously need a friend, Sally had Rotor design NICOLE and send her back in time.^[9] As in the animated series, Sally carries NICOLE around at all times. NICOLE can speak and perform other tasks, as well as help with research. Unlike in SatAM where Sally carried NICOLE on one of her boots, in the comic she carries NICOLE via a retractable shoulder strap, or more recently in a pouch on a belt around her waist.

Sally is among the few individuals who can wield the Sword of Acorns, a legendary weapon that only the heir to the Acorn Kingdom is meant to wield; Among the sword's mystic abilities is the power to heal, and also to allow its bearer to control minds at will. Other characters who have been able to use it include: Sonic the Hedgehog, Mammoth Mogul and King Max.

When the four-part saga "EndGame" was first written, the intent of the writers was to remove Princess Sally from the comic permanently. The idea was to kill the character with enough dignity to not drive away any of the character's fans. During a mission inside Robotroplis, Sally is slain after her rappel wire is cut, sending her falling several stories to the ground; Sonic was framed for her death.^[10] The reasoning on the part of the writers was that the arrival of King Max would displace Sally's power, making her unnecessary, and that the restrictions placed on the book by SEGA made it too difficult to continue writing the character as having a relationship with Sonic. Fan reaction to Sally's death was massive, and larger than either Ken Penders, Archie, or SEGA had anticipated. It is also speculated that SEGA additionally had promotional plans for the character, and the character was ordered to be revived. Sally's return was written into issue #50, which interfered with scheduling and caused several pages to be cut.^[11] The issue was later revised and reissued as a Sonic Super Special.

Princess Sally Acorn in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog #123. Pencilled by J. Axer.

After Robotnik is killed, Sally is put in charge of reconstruction of Mobotropolis. With Sally busy behind the scenes, other characters take on the role of field commander, with Sonic occasionally filling that role but usually preferring to work solo. With the return of her parents, Sally cannot properly rule either. Sally becomes frustrated with a lack of control over her life, culminating in an arranged marriage with Antoine. The wedding is quickly annulled when her groom turns out to be Patch, an evil version of Antoine from a parallel universe. After her brother Elias Acorn takes the throne and her father falls ill, Sally returns to taking a more active role in overseeing the Freedom Fighters, even joining them in combat.

Sally agrees to be the maid of honor at Bunnie and Antoine's wedding, with Sonic serving as best man. Prior to that, the foursome teamed up to defeat and arrest several villains-Mammoth Mogul, Ixis Naugus, Nack the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite-who were lured into a sting operation baited with a fake auction of the Master Emerald. Not long after the ceremony, Sally became Eggman's prisoner during the aerial bombardment of Knothole, but was promptly freed by a rescue mission mounted by the few who weren't taken prisoner: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, and NICOLE. With Knothole completely crushed, Dr. Eggman turns his sights on New Mobotropolis. Sally once more leads the charge against the enemy forces herself, leading the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix in defeating Robotnik's Egg Beater battlesuit. Just prior to this, her shoulder-length hair was restored to its original length and style by Bunnie, symbolizing that she was her old self again. Not long after, she interrupted a duel between her brother Elias and Tails' father Amadeus Prower, both of whom were leading separate factions in a schism that threatened to plunge New Mobotropolis into civil war. Reminding them of her own ruling experience, she managed to bring the battle to an end and worked with them to establish a new system of government.

Though the new ruling body calls for seven council members-including Elias-Sally declined running, apparently quite fine with leaving politics behind for a while. Sadly, her relief at the averted crisis was short-lived, as Dimitri the Echidna arrived with horrifying news: Enerjak had returned. The Council of Acorn placed her in command of the Freedom Fighters, and her first duty involved stoppoing the Chaotix from running off to Angel Island in search of the missing Knuckles, who had disappeared shortly before Enerjak's return. Sally herself then went to work trying to communicate with other Freedom Fighter groups, hoping to gather allies against Enerjak's assault-only to find that the super powerful Echidna had blocked their transmissions. She managed to contact Rouge the Bat, who promised to contact G.U.N.'s newest and best agent, who was in the area, and have him sent to assist-that agent turned out to be none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. Before he could arrive, however, Enerjak completed his business on Angel Island and arrived in New Mobotropolis, where Sally and the other Freedom Fighters learned of the true horror behind the reborn demigod: he was in fact Knuckles, transformed by the energies of the Master Emerald and the powerful magical influence of Dr. Finitevus, a member of the evil Dark Legion and sworn enemy of Knuckles' family.

Sally and her friends fought bravely against Enerjak, determined not to allow him to enforce his antitechnological ideals on them. Unfortunately, even the combined efforts of Sonic and Shadow failed to stop the brainwashed Knuckles, and it was only the arrival of the Egg Fleet that saved New Mobotropolis from further damage after the battle had wreaked such havoc on the city. Despite the fact that Knuckles was now trapped in Robotnik's specially modified Egg Grape Chamber and thus a power source for the doctor's war on the Kingdom of Acorn, Sally was reluctant to do anything to aid him when it would only result in Enerjak being unleashed upon Mobius once again.

Cover of Mobius: 25 Years Later

In the possible future of Mobius: 25 Years Later (which is not necessarily a definite canon future), Sally is now Queen while her husband King Sonic helps rule by her side. They have two children, Princess Sonia and Prince Manik (named after Sonia the Hedgehog and Manic the Hedgehog, Sonic's siblings from the animated TV show Sonic Underground). In the future, Sonic is depressed and tells Sally he does not feel suited to be a king, and only agreed to assume the throne because he didn't know what he was getting himself into. Sally takes this with a grain of salt, viewing it as some sort of a mid-life crisis.

Another possible future is revealed in an alternate Mobius: 25 Years Later: Sally is married to Shadow the Hedgehog, who rules with an iron fist, with Knuckles as his enforcer and former Dark-Legionnaire Lien-Da as his chief advisor. This is the result of King Sonic and Lara-Su going back in time and tampering with the timeline. Because Sally is married to Shadow in this future, her children Manik and Sonia cease to exist. However, when Sonic returns, he works together with Lara-Su to overthrow Shadow. Sally explains her motivations for marrying Shadow, and she and Sonic get back together.

Still a third possible future is similar in nature to the Mobius: 25 Years Later timeline. In this future, Sonic and Sally are married and have two children, who are not mentioned by name. However, they appear to be similar to the 25 Years Later Manik and Sonia, with the boy being a hedgehog and the girl being a ground squirrel. In this future, both children possess super speed. This future is the one from which NICOLE originates, since the Rotor from this time period who designs her.

Ultimately, Sally's first love is her people. Of her suitors, however, Sally has shown the most interest in Sonic the Hedgehog. Because of their clashing personalities, they were more-or-less reluctant love interests. In the comic she has had other occasional sweethearts, particularly Geoffrey St. John (now married to Hershey), and childhood friend Knuckles the Echidna (Knuckles has since fallen for Julie-Su). Geoffrey is the more serious case of those two, but in the end Sally decides to wait until she knows what she has with Sonic.

While both Sonic and Sally have had their own share of love interests throughout the comic, Sonic has been portrayed as Sally's first love. In much of the DiC cartoon and early comics, the two are portrayed as semi-sweethearts, with Sonic usually running away or changing the subject whenever confronted with the possibility of romance (although Sally is prone to bashfully dodge the issue herself). After believing Sally to be dead during the Endgame storyline, Sonic revives her and the two share their first kiss.^[12] When the King brings up the subject of marriage, Sally's first thought is Sonic, but the King strongly opposes the idea. The King, in accordance with royal tradition, uses the mystical Source of All to decide who Sally's husband should be: Antoine.

After realizing the Source has taken control over her fate, Sally quarrels with her father for a while; it is therefore a surprise when he finally gives his blessing to her and Sonic. Mere moments after the King speaks with them, however, Sonic finds himself in conflict with the alien Xorda - a battle that results in his being sent to the other side of the galaxy. It will be a year before he would return home, during which time the people of Mobius assume he has died a hero's death.^[13]

Upon Sonic's return, he and Sally quickly reunite, with Sally professing that she had never given up her belief that he was still alive (However, Sally later reveals this to be a lie, and that she had already gone through the painful transition of accepting Sonic's death). Neither of them have time to readjust before being faced with another crisis - Eggman threatens to destroy Knothole and Station Square. Nearly losing Sonic again after having been without him for a year, Sally become reluctant to see him risk life and limb again. When King and Queen decide to leave her in charge of the Kingdom while they embark on a diplomatic tour of the world, Sally asks for Sonic to be at her side governing the country; Sonic believes he will make a bigger difference in the world by adventuring like he has always done. Realizing Sonic will never be there for her as long as she was Queen, Sally gives Sonic an ultimatum - her or adventuring. Sonic feels that his role in the field is too important and turns her down, at which point Sally slaps him and runs away crying;^[14] a definite break-up between Sonic and Sally soon follows.^[15]

Sally gives Sonic an ultimatum

In the issues that follows, the relationship between the two remains rocky; Sally confesses that she still loves Sonic, but is starting to think he will never change. The arranged marriage to Antoine finally comes to pass,^[16] but what nobody knows is that the real Antoine has been replaced with his evil double from Anti-Mobius, Patch, who had preyed on Sally's uncertainty and feelings of royal obligation. Ultimately Anti-Antoine uses Sally's love for her people to convince her that it is her duty to go through with the marriage. The Anti-Antoine has also been secretly poisoning the King for some time, with the intent of finishing the job after the wedding and assuming the throne. When Sonic learns about the engagement, he reacts with surprise and jealousy, but is unaware of Patch's plot. Sally and Antoine do marry, but the reception is interrupted by Elias, who doesn't trust Antoine. Although Elias had previously abdicated his position in line to the throne to marry a commoner, he now declares his right as the eldest sibling to be the new King. Furious, Patch tries to retaliate by assassinating him, but is thankfully stopped and sent back to his dimension where he belongs.

Elias annulles Sally's marriage, telling her that with him as King, she can do whatever she wants. But by the time Sally was released from this obligation, Sonic has already rebounded by dating Fiona Fox. This decision blows up in his face when Fiona dumps him in favor of his evil counterpart Scourge. Luckily, he and Sally patch things up and remain friends, and the possibility exists that they will renew their romantic relationship as shown in several possible futures.

Like several characters in the Archie Comics, Sally has a variety of other-reality counterparts. The first to appear is Anti-Sally, a villainous version of herself from the Anti-Mobius universe. Anti-Sally is evil in all fields in which Sally is good, and assumed leadership of the Anti-Freedom Fighters following Evil Sonic's expulsion from the group. Most recently, she and Anti-Bunnie were knocked into a pool of Octopods, and it is unclear what happened to them afterwards. Shortly after her was Sal-Ugh, a prehistoric version of Sally who lived in the Mobian age of dinosaurs.

Another is Pretty Soldier Sally Moon, a version of Sally from a Sailor Moon themed Mobius. This version of Sally is the enemy of Ivana Robotnik and has a sidekick called Chibi Rose, an obvious parody of Chibi Usa. In addition, she is the girlfriend—to Sonic's eternal displeasure—of her dimension's Knuckles, known as Tuxedo Knux, another obvious spoof from Sailor Moon.^[17] Yet another version is Sally McAcorn, an Ally McBeal style lawyer, and there is also Saleta, a superheroine with powers based on those of Guardians of the Galaxy member Aleta, and a high-society woman in a 1920s-style world who has a secret identity as "the Princess of the rebellion". Sallactor is an evil version of Sally hailing from the Sentai Zone, mortal enemy of the Sonicaman ninja team.

Sally Acorn appears briefly in early issues of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic starting with issue 3, 1993. Unlike her Archie counterpart, Sally is a minor character with no title and appears alongside other villagers in the Hill Zones. This version of Sally is more round and a bit of a crybaby. Her only relative is her brother, Tufftee.^[18]

Unlike other versions of Sally, Sally Acorn never develops into a love interest for Sonic. The female lead in Sonic the Comic is instead Amy Rose.

In 1993 an article in Sonic the Comic (Sonic the Poster Mag #1, late 1993) announced two new television series starring Sonic the Hedgehog, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM). Within the four pages of plot synopsis and concept art, a group of screen shots that greatly differ from the rest appear without explanation.^[19] These screen shots have circulated through the Internet contributing to the theory of a cartoon series aborted before production which has been dubbed "The Mystery cartoon" which nowadays is known as "Pre-SatAM".

These screen shots include a character named "Princess Acorn", presumably a squirrel with yellow fur and blond hair wearing a red dress.^[20] She shows up alongside characters that have since been featured in Sonic the Comic. This character shares little similarities in appearance with the Sally of today, but as her name suggests it is likely that this was an early design of Princess Sally Acorn.

Sally went through several design and color scheme changes in the beginning of her career. First seen in DiC's Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) pilot episode "Heads or Tails", Sally appeared with pink fur, black hair, and boots with white trim (NICOLE in the pilot, was instead a large bulky computer on wheels). Before producing the rest of the series, Sally's design and color scheme were altered. She appears in all other episodes with brown fur, red hair, and boots without trim. Sally also wears a headband and has a visible ponytail. In addition to these visual changes, Sally's voice has a distinctly lower pitch in later episodes, a result of Sally's voice actress Kath Soucie using her normal speaking voice. In the second season, Sally starts wearing her trademark blue vest without explanation.

After briefly sporting a red-furred and blond-haired color scheme (unseen anywhere else) in the premiere issue of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, Sally later adopted the "Pink" design in Sonic #2. Sally continued sporting the "Pink" design until reverting to her current color scheme in issue #16 of the ongoing series. Her blue vest is given to her by her late mentor Julayla as a coming-of-age gift in the first 48-page Sonic special, "Sonic in Your Face".^[21]

Sally's changing color has often been referenced as an in-joke by Archie's comic staff. In Sonic, Sally announces she has something important to tell Sonic, and he sarcastically guesses that it's the reason why she changed from a blonde to a brunette. In Sonic #3, Sally goes berserk after seeing a headline in The Knothole Inquisitor reading "Princess Dye", suggesting that she's been secretly changing her hair color.^[22] In Knuckles the Echidna #29, Sally explains that her change in color was due to immersion in a chemical vat while on a mission^[23] (readers will notice that Sally is wearing her blue vest in the flashback, which she should not have had at the time). Acknowledgment was given to the color change again on the cover of the "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Beginning" trade paperback, which features all three Sallys staring quizzically at each other.

Even Sally's trademark vest has been shown in more than one color; on the cover of the "Fortress of Fear" book, she is shown wearing a pink vest. In Archie's Princess Sally miniseries, the fake Sally is distinguished by her purple vest, and at the end of the Archie's "Sonic Adventure 2.5: Ώmega" storyline, Sally can be seen wearing a black vest when attending Sonic's funeral (it was believed that he had perished saving the planet from the Xorda).

'Pink' Sally also turns up in the game Sonic Spinball as a non-playable character, alongside fellow Freedom Fighters Bunnie and Rotor in one of the bonus levels.

Pink Sally made a brief return in Sonic Christmas Blast, part of DiC's Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog syndicated series, although her general design matches her final Sonic appearance. Sally has no spoken lines in Christmas Blast (except for a gasping sound near the end), but it seems that the animation may have originally allowed for her to have dialogue. An awkward scene change that occurs every time Sally is about to speak suggests that these parts may have been cut from the final version.

• FUS - Fans United for SatAM - Profiles: Princess Sally
• Archie Comics character information