Head-Canon: Shellbreaker X Abyss
Of all the head-canons dancing in my brain, this is by far the weirdest.
One of my favorite things about the Archie Sonic comics was that they weren't afraid to go outside their comfort zone when creating new animal characters. I especially loved the "Marine Mobians", characters based on aquatic animals. My favorite Marine Mobian is Razor the Shark, but I'm also a huge fan of his former friends: the Setting Dawn Pirates. I'm especially fond of Captain Shellbreaker Otter and ex-crewmate-turned-Southern Oceans Egg Boss, Abyss the Squid.
Despite appearing in the very last arc of Sonic Universe (issues 91-94), the Setting Dawn Pirates have gone on to become fan favorites for their diverse designs and...well, being pirates. However, because they were literally the last new Archie characters to appear before the license went to IDW, there's very little information about their background; leaving fans to fill in the gaps. Here's one my my ideas for them, and by far my most unusual to date: Shellbreaker and Abyss were not just crewmates, they were co-captains and lovers!
In the comics, Shellbreaker (henceforth referred to by my fan-name "Sheldon"; see below for details) does NOT take kindly to traitors due to Abyss abandoning the crew for the Eggman Empire and making off with most of their ships and treasure, to the point that he gets irritable just hearing her name.
Additionally, Mr. Bristles the Yeti Crab mentioned that the crew used to be very close, like a family. This suggests that at one point, they weren't as malicious as they were by the present time.
Finally, the Sonic News Network says that Abyss was the Captain of the Setting Dawn Pirates and is 28 years old. But in Sonic Universe #92, Sheldon was referred to as Captain by Razor, who was surprised to learn just how much the crew lost. This suggests that the betrayal happened sometime after he left, meaning that Abyss and Sheldon were close in rank.
Ergo, I made them co-Captains in my head-canon. The lovers bit was something I threw in for fun, but it started to grow on me. Come on, just look how happy they are together! A pity Bissy had to get greedy and ruin it all (possibly)...
PS: I gave Shellbreaker the first name Sheldon because I thought it would be funny to give the serious, cold, and intimidating pirate captain a dorky secret like that. Only the crew is allowed to call him that. Everyone else gets 'otterly' annihilated.
Captain Shellbreaker and Abyss the Squid are the property of Sega and Archie Comics. Please, support the official release and all official Sonic materials.
Original artwork by RisziArts.
