Sonic from Sonic Prime has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) or a related dissociative disorder.
This is partially us identifying in our comfort character, especially because this disorder is horrendously under/misrepresented, but hear me out. Also, this is really long. I wish I could put a cut in an ask.
The whole show is centered around splitting most of the main characters up into different versions of themselves with different backgrounds, personalities, and motivations. All of them are distinct and separate with different names and everything. This is perfect grounds for giving the lead role DID, in my opinion.
DID is a covert mental disorder. This is partially because everyone in a system is trying to protect each other and the host, so amnesia and dissociative barriers are raised to mentally shelter other alters from memories that can be distressing or harmful. Since the disorder is also developed due to repeated or ongoing childhood trauma, it is often also a defense mechanism to hide the existence of the system from other people. This means that despite the fact that there's no "obvious" switches in the base media that you'd typically see in a show or movie that features DID, it would actually represent switching much more accurately, as most switches for most systems are slow, gradual, and barely detectable. They can also be on a dime or more obvious, in some instances.
There are plenty of different things in Sonic's canon backstory that support the possibility of DID, such as being mute in his Classic era, but no longer mute in the modern era. Psychosomatic symptoms such as mutism and poor eyesight can be alter-dependent, as well as natural tone, mannerisms, vocal timbre, and resting expressions. Growing up all alone on Christmas island from a very young age wouldn't need a host that can talk, would arguably be a fairly traumatic experience, and that's not even mentioning Eggman's interference in his life (though that comes a bit later in canon than DID typically forms) and a lot of the other stuff he has to go through in the games. Because Shadow is here, and fairly well-known and on good terms, it can be assumed that this is sometime after the events of Shadow the Hedgehog (in the game timeline).
There are a number of times in the show where a switch could be arguable. Sonic is usually depicted in this show as tone-deaf, excitable, silly, and clumsy. However, a lot of the time, once there's a significant amount of danger or risk involved, his entire demeanor changes, and he gets real. In fights, he often completely stops messing around and becomes very focused on what he's doing and helping to lead the others with what he knows and what he thinks will work or help.
^ An example is when he goes up against Chaos Sonic; he's in this more serious mindset and does not want anything to do with the banter, and he also keeps getting distracted by it. He even remarks, "If I'm half as annoying as this guy, I really need to make some changes." during the fight. When he does quip back, it's half-hearted and lackluster up until the very end of the fight, where he tricks Chaos Sonic into getting hit with a bus. His mannerisms, vocal tone, and timbre also all change, which is commonly seen when alters switch. Even his resting expression changes from a glare to a more relaxed state. It is also very possible and common for amnesia barriers to be weaker and not completely blocking out memories. It can even be alter-specific, and the level of amnesia when switching out can sometimes vary. That means that it's quite possible that, at very least, the knowledge of the fight with Chaos Sonic was transferred over the switch, in this case (S2E6, Double Trouble).
In another example, the entire scene when the Eggmen and Nine are playing around with prism energy infusion, it looks like the two most often seen alters in the show are fighting for front in multiple instances, or that they are co-fronting or blendy/influencing each other. At the very beginning of the fight, Sonic gets into his focused mindset, but his ears flick back and forth between Dr. Deep and the carrier headed to Nine's location. This moment is where the two seem to start influencing each other pretty heavily because the whole first conversation with Nine, his mannerisms and tone, including speech patterns, start to go back and forth on each other even while carrying the same conversation all the way through. In addition, while Sonic is given prismatic energy, the official name for the form is "Shatter Sonic", and Sonic is seen talking to himself as both of these different alters. Soon into the interaction, the serious alter starts masking. Another line I love from this scene is this: "1: "Race you to Shadow?" 2: "Way ahead of you! Me... Us?" (S2E8, Ghost of a Chance)
Wow. That went further than I thought it would. This took me an hour, enjoy the MLA citation I guess? 😅
kaledo-art
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