*U.I.C.S. stands for: Unnecessarily Intensive Character Study*
Surely, given my love of the Sonic IDW series, you had to expect that a U.I.C.S article would come eventually, right? Sure, it’s been an almost embarrassing amount of time since my last one of these articles, but I still adore writing them!
And what better place to start than looking at my second-favorite character from the comic, and easily it’s most controversial original character? Let’s go ahead and dive into an in-depth analysis of Lanolin the Sheep!
What It Takes to be a Resistance/Restoration Member
We first meet Lanolin in a very simplistic setting, given the role she’ll eventually gain. In fact, in her first appearance, she doesn’t even have a name yet!
The village where Lanolin lives is besieged by Eggman robots, a classic conundrum. The only non-standard thing is the sheer amount of bots coming to attack the village, to the point where victory seems impossible. Thankfully, Sonic has arrived to save the day, with Amy in tow, yet even two of the most stalwart heroes around can’t handle an army all on their own. Lanolin explains as such, panicking about the future of her village.
Amy has an elegant solution, which is to arm the villagers themselves with leftover weapons from the recently-ended war. As part of the war against Eggman’s plan for world domination, a brave group that fought back were known as ‘The Resistance‘, a group which Amy currently leads the remnants of. Using a stock of Resistance weapons, Amy arms Lanolin and the other villagers, and they prepare for battle.
Thanks to Amy’s plan, Eggman’s goons are defeated, with Sonic and Amy taking point, and Lanolin and others providing cover fire. The robots are eradicated, and the village is saved. Lanolin is thrilled at the victory, relieved that everyone is safe, and more than anything she is deeply impressed by the Resistance, Amy, and Sonic most of all. Amy suggests she join up with the Resistance, and Lanolin promises to do so.
From this point (Issue #2) until the moment Lanolin officially receives a name and joins the main cast (Issue #57), Lanolin is reserved for background cameos and minor speaking roles. And yet, these moments are plentiful, and deliver a surprising amount of character development that subtly preps you for her real role later on.
See, Lanolin takes up Amy’s offer and does join the Resistance, joining their ranks eager to do something good, dole out some justice to the world, help those in need, and grow stronger. All admirable goals…but it comes at the worst possible time.
Naive, inexperienced, starry-eyed Lanolin joins the Resistance right as Doctor Eggman unveils his most disturbing scheme yet: The Metal Virus, an icky goop that, with only a drop, turns whatever living thing it touches into a mindless Zombot, who can additionally spread the virus to other living creatures.
The entire planet quickly falls into disarray as the Metal Virus spreads everywhere, expanding even beyond Eggman’s capabilities to contain it. Bases are destroyed, cities fall, and heroes are lost to the mind-controlling plague, one by one. Eventually, only a core group of heroes are left, alongside a slim support staff…including Lanolin.
It’s supremely bad luck, but Lanolin is tossed right into the figurative deep-end mere days after joining the Resistance (now rechristened to ‘The Restoration‘), going from a happy girl living in a peaceful village to a desperate recruit watching everyone else around her be stolen by the virus, while the world teeters on the brink of doom. She’s being run ragged, barely scraping by alongside everyone else, and all hope almost seems lost.
At the same time, Lanolin’s efforts aren’t for nothing, same with the rest of the Restoration and the remaining heroes. The world is descending into chaos, things are much darker and more violent than Lanolin would have ever expected…but she is doing something good, she is doling out justice, she is helping those in need, and she is growing stronger. She’s getting to do everything she wanted, even if the shape of those actions is much different than she planned.
She didn’t expect to see so much loss. She didn’t expect to have to suit up for battle. She didn’t expect to put her life on the line. But she’s doing all of those things, she’s refusing to give up, and she’s not stopping her fight for justice.
Amy’s influence is palpable here as well. During this crisis, Amy tries to be unshakeable as she can while leading the Restoration (what’s left of it in the Metal Virus’ wake), and Amy begins a strong role model for Lanolin. Lanolin has looked up to her since that day back at the village, and she still looks up to her now. And Lanolin sees the lengths that Amy has to go to lead. Decisiveness to the point of seeming callous. Making hard calls for the greater good. Never losing sight of the end goal.
Lanolin sees all of this, and she mimics it. She lets those ideas shape her.
Though it is a close call, the Metal Virus is eventually purged from the world, the villains are chased away, and peace returns to the planet. Everyone is able to take a deep breath, enjoy a moment of peace, and try to help fix the damage from the chaos. Amy retires as the Restoration’s leader (but still remains a part of it), and a woman named Jewel takes charge, shepherding the Restoration into a new era of community aid and support, not fighting.
Lanolin follows this new path wholeheartedly…but with her actions, not her behavior or thoughts. The old Lanolin might’ve slipped easily into that role, perhaps becoming an ambassador for the Restoration, visiting towns and helping them out. Not the new Lanolin.
Lanolin, thanks to the tribulations of the Metal Virus, has been hardened into a solider. She’s not a full-on cynic, but she’s a dutiful solider. She follows orders, she respects authority, she adheres to the law, and she gets things done. No frills, no excesses. The ear-to-ear smile of the old Lanolin is replaced with a stoic countenance and a rigid regard for duty.
What I’d tell you about that official-type stuff? You gotta relax, sister.
The Restoration’s mechanic, to Lanolin
This behavior sets her apart from the other members of the Restoration, who adapt more easily to the change in goals and missions. Lanolin exclusively refers to people by their official titles as a respect to their authority, no matter how many times she’s reminded to be more casual. She takes every order she’s given seriously, as if it is a life-or-death moment. She marches through the halls, she salutes those who outrank her (a ‘ranking system’ that really doesn’t even exist anymore). She can’t shake this part of her, not after how it became drilled into her during the Metal Virus ordeal.
Notably, Lanolin also has precious little tolerance for those who do not take seriously the things she personally does. She isn’t one to start a fight, but she clearly is annoyed by people who shirk their duties, who ignore the chain of command, or disrespect authority, who do not take their missions seriously. These actions aggravate her, and simultaneously show a lot about her personality, her attitude, and her inability to stop being the solider she’s become.
Time and again, across a multitude of cameo appearances, we see Lanolin act this way. Others comment on it, smiling with exasperation at her lack of changing these traits despite gentle reminders and suggestions. Lanolin is, of course, an incredibly valuable and capable member of the Restoration, even if others find her a bit ‘odd‘. Ultimately, she means well, and no one sees any reason to truly try and get Lanolin to change her ways.
After all, why would her tendencies ever truly become an issue?
The Formation of the Diamond Cutters
After her string of cameo appearances, Lanolin finally makes her official debut as a named character and major supporting figure at a rather critical time for the protagonists of this world.
Eggman’s newest scheme involves a mechanical city, christened ‘Eggperial City‘, which is capable of infinitely regenerating and replicating, healing any damage and growing more and more by consuming nutrients and minerals from the Earth itself. Sonic and a few of his friends barely managed to escape with their lives the first time they confronted the city, but they also can’t just leave it operational. Something more has to be done.
Cue the ‘Diamond Cutters‘, a team formed from three of the Restoration’s best recruits. Tangle the Lemur, and her boundless enthusiasm and creative fighting skills. Whisper the Wolf, and her tactical prowess and ranged weapon mastery. And finally, Lanolin the Sheep, ever the stoic soldier, who has taken a position as the leader of the trio and accompanies Sonic on a return visit to the Eggperial City.
It is the first official mission of the Diamond Cutters, though the name itself is a direct one-to-one callback to the group of mercenaries Whisper originally worked with. This Diamond Cutters, however, is a fair bit less experienced than that one, though no less willing to give it their all.
For a brief moment, Lanolin is star-struck upon officially being introduced to Sonic. He doesn’t remember her, since he spends his time saving tons of innocent people from Eggman’s robots. But she’s never forgotten how he saved her village, and inspired her to join the Resistance, stick with it as it became the Restoration, and continue to fight for justice. He is her inspiration for being a hero and pushing for what is right.
Yeah? Well they need to understand that they can’t beat the odds forever.
An exasperated Lanolin
The sparkly adoration doesn’t last long. Lanolin is, after all, a dutiful solider, and she does things by the book. Before she can even finish explaining the infiltration of Eggperial City plan to her team, Sonic and Tangle have rocketed off towards the nearest bots to bust their bolts. It works, but their recklessness immediately exasperates Lanolin, who feels that her teammate and idol aren’t taking things seriously. She’s confident their luck can’t last forever.
It doesn’t.
The ever-increasing mechanization of Eggperial City eventually proves to be too much for Sonic and Tangle, leading to Sonic getting separated from the three girls, and the Diamond Cutters barely scraping by to safety. Lanolin doesn’t blame her team, though, but shifts all of the blame to herself instead. Her first-ever true mission as a team leader is less than an hour underway, and Sonic is missing and they’ve lost their advantages and have been forced into hiding. It’s a disaster.
This moment encapsulates one of Lanolin’s chief flaws, which is that she’s eternally too hard on herself. It’s true that she acts like a soldier, and enjoys fighting for justice. But a part of the reason she “takes herself so seriously” (as some of her friends comment) is because she can’t afford not to. She’s convinced she has to be perfect, follow orders, and get results. No one is putting this pressure on her, but the high-stakes, extremely-critical, no-mistakes-allowed nature of her initial exposure to this life have proven formative in a way she’s having a hard time of shaking.
Thankfully, the ever-optimistic Tangle is there to cheer Lanolin up. Crucially, Tangle doesn’t just try to lift Lanolin’s spirits, but also imparts a worthwhile lesson. It’s okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to screw up. It happens, and you carry on. You learn. Most importantly, there’s no need to beat yourself up over a few mistakes when you’ve got a team at your back.
The lesson sticks for Lanolin, especially the practical angle. Learning, growing, improving…those are things Lanolin can understand. Having a team is something she can place her trust in, something she can anchor herself to. She’s the leader, she needs to make the calls, and she needs to rely on her team. She needs to be there for her team.
Lanolin’s deep faith in her friends, in the Diamond Cutters, grows stronger, and she cements it with a group hug with Tangle and Whisper (well, she mostly acquiesces to the hug, at any rate).
Later, Lanolin repairs Tangle for the pep talk in the most dramatic fashion possible.
When Eggman launches a device at Tangle that will trap her inside an energy prison, with no way out, Lanolin doesn’t even hesitate.
Tangle is in danger. Her friend is in danger. Her teammate is in danger.
Lanolin shoves Tangle out of the way, yells at the frightened lemur to run, and then Lanolin is consumed by the energy prison and vanishes.
In the heat of the moment, in the throes of the battle, Lanolin didn’t even hesitate. She sacrificed herself without a moment’s hesitation. It’s what a good solider would do, but it’s also what a good teammate would do. Lanolin places all of her faith in Tangle and sacrifices herself so that Tangle can run and escape, trusting that Tangle will see the mission through…or at the very least, she won’t face the same fate as Lanolin herself does.
This moment of self-sacrifice, this gamble, pays off. Tangle reunites with Sonic and some arriving reinforcements (like Amy, Tails, and Shadow), and the heroes are able to get the drop on Eggman and his Eggperial City thanks to the info the Diamond Cutters uncovered. Tangle doesn’t waste the chance Lanolin gave her, and the saviors of the world are able to turn the tables on the nefarious doctor and begin dismantling his Eggperial City.
In the chaos, Tangle and Tails make it back to Eggman’s control room, and reverse the controls on the energy prisons. Whisper (who was also captured) is freed, and so is Lanolin. Lanolin, instantly, immediately, jumps into action, seizing the chance to attack Eggman back. When he tries to go for Tangle, Lanolin and Whisper proudly announce that the Diamond Cutters are back, and she and Whisper blast the mad doctor and take him out.
Lanolin then uses her primary weapon, a super-powered cowbell, to destroy Eggman’s headquarters to dismantle the doctor’s plans, and also pave the way for an escape route. With Tails and Tangle assisting, Lanolin and Whisper are extracted, the trio are truly reunited, and their first mission has ended in a resouncing success.
Technically. Barely.
Tangle (and Sonic) disobeyed Lanolin’s orders. Lanolin’s brief crisis-of-confidence interrupted what could have been a critical planning moment. Whisper getting taken out by the energy prison led Lanolin to have to sacrifice herself for Tangle. And everything hinged on Tangle getting the intel to Sonic and friends, then backtracking to save the imprisoned Lanolin and Whisper. At a myriad of points during the mission, things could have gone horribly wrong.
As the leader of the Diamond Cutters, as a soldier, Lanolin isn’t content with the results of their first mission. She sees the flaws, the gaps, the shortcomings, and she begins drafting training plans. She’s not just going to let the Diamond Cutters be the team that “gets by“. Her team is going to be perfect, she is going to be perfect.
And their trio is going to be a quartet.
A new recruit joins the Restoration, and is given a tour of the headquarters by Amy. He is Duo the Cat, and when he meets the Diamond Cutters, he expresses interest in joining their crew. He explains how he idolizes them and that they can make a difference in the world while also fighting and being cool, yet collected and focused on the mission. His explanation appeals to all three girls equally, and it especially resonates with Lanolin in that Duo reminds him of herself, when she joined up because of Sonic’s influence.
Lanolin does have some concerns about Duo’s apparent lack of defined skills, as he positions himself as a bit of an all-arounder who is eager to learn and improve. Still, Tangle loves making friends, and Whisper makes a strong argument that it’s better to have a new member join and be trained during a relative time of peace (Eggman still licking his wounds after his city’s destruction).
Lanolin weighs the pros and cons, and eventually acquiesces, allowing Duo onto the team.
Another expansion happens sooner than expected. Silver the Hedgehog, a time traveler currently hanging out in the present, feels restless and wants to do more good in the world. He asks to join the Diamond Cutters as a temporary ally, and Lanolin accepts, under the condition that he immediately join them on a training exercise in a nearby canyon, a test to assess the skills of Silver and Duo, and shore-up the capabilities of herself, Tangle, and Whsper.
Silver is happy to agree, and Duo is excited to go on his first mission, albeit just for training.
There’s only one problem…Duo isn’t who he says he is. There is no real person named ‘Duo‘.
In reality, Duo is Mimic the Octopus, a talented shapeshifter, a member of the original Diamond Cutters (like Whisper once was), and more importantly, a violent killer. He’s here to spy on the heroes, sow dissension in their ranks, and personally torment Whisper.
It doesn’t take long for Mimic, as Duo, to begin causing problems.
When an unexpectedly large robot attacks their group during the training exercise, Duo senses a chance to try and remove Silver from the board. Duo feigns weakness to lure Silver in to help him, then slips away to force Silver to deal with the giant robot himself. Silver manages to thwart the massive bot, but he overtaxes his psychic powers in the process and sends debris flying at his allies, debris that Lanolin, Tangle, and Whisper only barely avoid.
From Lanolin’s perspective, Silver’s out-of-control powers nearly caused a massive injury to the other members of the team. Silver, who didn’t fully glimpse Duo’s trick, tries to argue that Duo was acting weird. Lanolin calls Silver out on this, arguing that it doesn’t do anyone justice to point fingers. There’s no evidence that Duo did anything other than panic when a giant robot attacked.
Silver, however, did do something, and that’s what Lanolin takes issue with. She reprimands Silver for attacking too recklessly with his psychic powers. His powers are strong, and Lanolin cautions him that he needs better self-control. There is no room for error. It’s a saliant point, and one Silver tries to begrudgingly take to heart, even if he can’t fully shake his suspicions about Duo.
A rift in the Diamond Cutters begins to grow…
Blind to All but Justice
With the chaos at the Eggperial City having come to its successful resolution, Lanolin and the other Diamond Cutters have established themselves as an effective and trustworthy team. They’ve completed several missions together with their group that, currently, totals at five thanks to Duo and the temporary aide of Silver. They’ve got a good reputation, and are called upon frequently.
That’s on the surface, though. Under the surface, it’s significantly more complicated, specifically because Silver has never completely shaken his suspicions that Duo isn’t who he says he is. The choice he makes next, though, is not the smartest.
Silver tells Whisper that he thinks Duo is up to something. Whisper, the person who lost everything in her life because of Mimic, the person whose trauma all stems from Mimic, is quick to agree. She’s confident that Duo is Mimic, and she hatches a plan with Silver to expose Duo in public, confronting and unmasking him as Mimic.
The two confront Duo one evening, trying to force him into revealing himself as Mimic. When he protests, they shove him. Lanolin, wandering by, sees this and immediately steps in two Duo’s defense. As far as she can tell, Duo is again being harassed by teammates, for no reason.
Our heroes negative traits continue to pile, as Whisper is too worked up to calm down and have a conversation. A conversation might’ve solved things. Now, she wants to unmask Duo and defeat him, ending the threat of Mimic for good. When Lanolin steps in to play mediator, Whisper isn’t having it. She grabs Lanolin’s arm, trying to push her aside.
Lanolin’s eyes narrow (a really excellent minor detail in the art). At this exact second in time, Whisper isn’t a friend anymore. She’s a threat. An enemy. And enemies face justice.
Without hesitation, Lanolin grabs Whisper’s arm and slams her onto the ground, stunning the wolf. It’s painful, but efficient.
Still, Whisper tries to fight, occupying Lanolin long enough for Silver to go after Duo. But Duo (or, of course, Mimic) is smart. Instead of fighting back, he allows himself to get hit, and begins crying and asking what he did wrong. The ever-egotistical Mimic, as far as our heroes know, would never let himself be humiliated and hurt to keep up a ruse. His personality wouldn’t allow it, it would be unthinkable!
This out-of-character act is a brilliant ploy, and it works. Silver and Whisper doubt their earlier suspicions, and reckon with the possibility they just attacked an innocent teammate.
In other words, they screwed up, and Lanolin isn’t letting anyone who breaks the rules or messes up get out of it with no consequences. You can’t learn if you don’t face consequences, you can’t be a good solider if you break orders. Lanolin reprimands Whisper and forces her to apologize to Duo…and then she kicks Silver off the team. He’s a reckless hothead who can’t get a handle on his powers, as far as Lanolin is concerned. He’s a liability. She wants him gone.
Tangle, trying not to rock the boat, sides with Lanolin. Silver, dejected, leaves the Diamond Cutters, while Lanolin takes Duo to get patched up.
A while later, infamous evil-doers Surge and Kit appear to want to change their ways, and Sonic and Amy give them a tour of Restoration HQ. This includes meeting with the Diamond Cutters, and the meeting is about as tense and awkward as anyone would have expected.
Surge’s actions are the reason the entire Eggperial City debacle happened, so Lanolin hates her. Surge went on a powered rampage earlier and brutally attacked Whisper, so Whisper hates her. And Tangle can’t stand troublemakers (especially those that hurt her friends), so Tangle also hates her. The only Diamond Cutter who doesn’t hate Surge is Duo, but that’s because both he and Surge are secretly working with a sleazy crime boss named Clutch.
Duo, wanting to give Surge an ‘in‘ to the Restoration, vouches for her. His logic wins over Lanolin, though she leaves the final say-so to ‘Commander Rose‘. Amy protests the name, reiterating that it’s a conversation she’s been over with Lanolin many times. Lanolin doesn’t need to be so formal, so militaristic, yet Lanolin is. It’s a sign that the progress Lanolin made in bettering herself during the Eggperial City chaos is unraveling, just like the bond between the Diamond Cutters.
A bit more time passes, and a grand competition begins. Its the Clean Sweepstakes, sponsored by the Clean Sweep business, a trash-collecting organization the cleans up after Eggman battles, but secretly collects the junk and sells it to the highest bidder on the black market. The entire racing competition is a ploy for Clutch to grab more power, while appearing to be a congenial backer of a sporting event. Surge and Duo are in place to ensure everything goes according to his plans.
The Diamond Cutters, and chiefly Lanolin, are placed in charge of security for the event, and being the referees during each race. Tangle is enamored by the glitz and glamor of the Clean Sweepstakes, and Whisper and Duo participate with no complaint, but Lanolin is locked-in. She’s been given a new job, a new mission, and she’s going to see it through. No matter what.
She demonstrates her unflappable resolve almost immediately during the first race. When Jet the Hawk feuds with Sonic during the race, Lanolin intervenes and harshly chastises Jet, warning that she’ll eject him from the race if he keeps breaking good sportsman conduct rules. When Jet protests, Lanolin doubles-down, reiterating her philosophy.
It doesn’t matter who they are. There are rules for a reason. And we’re here to uphold them.
Lanolin repeating her creed
Unlike Jet’s claim of ‘favoritism‘, that isn’t Lanolin’s purpose. She showcases that succinctly minutes later, when a crash knocks Sonic, Amy, and Tails off of their hoverboards. While Tangle asks if they are okay, Lanolin immediately yells at them to get off of the track, as their damaged boards are creating an obstacle that could cause a pileup.
For the first time ever, Lanolin’s rigidity begins to make Tangle angry, since it conflicts with Tangle’s number-one goal in life of being there for her friends. Lanolin isn’t wrong, though, harsh as her words are. She could phrase things more nicely, and everyone there recognizes that, but that isn’t who Lanolin is. At least, not this Lanolin, not a Lanolin fraying at the edges, tension running high.
On the second day of the Clean Sweepstakes racing competition, things get even crazier.
Sonic, Amy, and Tails figure out that the race’s sponsor, Clutch, is probably up to something. While Amy and Tails investigate, Sonic decides to act as a distraction and keep the cameras on him. He dons some armor to hide his identity, then takes to the race track to become a big disturbance.
He makes himself an obstacle, a threat, an enemy.
Lanolin is on him in an instant, yelling at him to surrender so she can take him into custody. Lanolin lands a powerful blow on Sonic, sending him into a tube that crashes. Unfortunately, a pedestrian was in the tube, and they begin to plummet. Sonic can’t just not be a hero, of course, so he saves the pedestrian, avoids the Diamond Cutters, and lands a blow on Lanolin when she gets close again, knocking her into the water.
That afternoon, Lanolin reflects on the events of the race…in the worst possible way. It’s not clear if she even realizes it was her attack on Sonic (or, as he calls himself while wearing armor, The Phantom Rider) that destroyed the tube and put the pedestrian in danger. She’s entirely focused on how Sonic, a criminal, got away from her. She had a mission to stop him, and she failed. It eats her up, as she works out her frustrations on a poor punching bag.
The entire time, the poison sweeping into Lanolin continues to whisper. And by poison, I, of course, mean Duo.
Duo hasn’t wasted a single chance to ruin the bonds between the Diamond Cutters since he got here, and he’s quickly realized that Lanolin is the most volatile member. Ever since, he’s stuck by her side, making sure that he always agrees with her, always encourages her plans, and always gently twists conversations to make Tangle and Whisper seem like the bad guys in every scenario. Lanolin doesn’t flip on a dime, that would be unrealistic. But it’s clear that Duo’s words are sinking in, and bringing Lanolin’s worst possible traits bubbling to the surface.
And, in a certain sense, Lanolin’s growing distrust of her team isn’t misplaced. Tangle and Whisper are hiding things from her. They’ve discovered that the Phantom Rider is really Sonic, and since they trust Sonic to have a plan that he just can’t tell them about, they keep his secret. Noting Lanolin’s increasing instability, they opt to hide the truth from her, so Duo’s manipulative words warning Lanolin that Tangle and Whisper are hiding something…those words are true.
This bursts to the surface on the third day of the competition, when Sonic yet again arrives to cause a distraction. Lanolin rushes after him, threatening to use the destructive power of her weapon to attack him. She nearly does, especially when Surge butts in to hold Sonic in place. It’s only Tangle throwing herself at Lanolin and grabbing Lanolin’s arm that stops the explosive cowbell from going off…yet in the process, Tangle is forced to admit that the Phantom Rider is Sonic, in turn revealing to her increasingly-angry teammate that the lemur has known about this for a while.
In the subsequent scuffle, Sonic is unmasked, shocking those who didn’t know, and making those who did know wince. At the same time, a giant blimp in the sky, where the organizers of the Clean Sweepstakes (Clutch), and the Restoration leaders (Jewel) have been residing, suddenly begins to plummet to the ground. The characters in the race don’t know it, but Clutch’s schemes have been revealed, and in retaliation, he blows up the blimp’s propellers and sends it on a crash course with the city below.
Sonic, without hesitation, tries to go up to the blimp to help…but Lanolin won’t let him.
As far as she’s concerned, he is still a criminal who interfered multiple times with the race, caused public destruction, and was a critical safety hazard to the race participants. Fueled by both a desire to bring a rule-breaking criminal to justice (and potentially also by the blow to her own reputation), Lanolin refuses to let Sonic past her to help with the blimp crisis. Her mind is in overdrive, and she’s completely, obsessively focused on the minutiae of Sonic’s ‘crimes‘, rather than the bigger picture threat to all the citizens of the city.
Tangle and Whisper try to talk Lanolin down, but (encouraged by Duo’s two-faced lies) Lanolin yells at them two. Even putting aside Duo twisting Lanolin more and more, it is true that Tangle and Whisper lied, so there’s logic behind Lanolin’s gut instinct reaction to be furious at them. And the more things go wrong for her, the more manic she becomes, desperate to get this one thing right.
Of course, Tangle and Whisper talking to her bought Sonic a moment to slip by, and head to the blimp. Lanolin, fire in her eyes, rockets after him, gunning her engines so fast she nearly catches up to the Blue Blur himself. Thankfully, bless the lovable lemur’s heart, Tangle isn’t far behind, and Whisper has come to. Sonic reminds Lanolin of the bigger picture, and Tangle and Whisper implore Lanolin to slow, breathe, and do the right thing by letting Sonic go and turning their attention to the citizens.
Duo catches up last, and the Diamond Cutters regroup, preparing to create a plan for how they can help avert this impending catastrophe of the blimp falling onto the city.
And then, Duo’s scarf begins to ring, a hidden walkie-talkie activating…and the person on the other end of the radio calls Duo ‘Mimic‘.
It’s Clutch, up on the blimp, panicking. The oily, greedy crime boss is a master schemer, but only when he holds all the cards. When the tables turn, he begins to panic, leading to him recklessly calling Duo without making sure Duo was in a private location first. And now, there’s no taking it back.
Duo has been exposed as Mimic, and as fast as he can, the friendly cat dissolves into the true form of an octopus as Mimic blasts away, Tangle and Whisper following after with a vengeance.
Lanolin is left behind, alone with her thoughts.
She now knows that Duo is Mimic. Duo was always Mimic. Silver was right to think he’d been left to die during that training exercise. Whisper was right to try and expose him. Lanolin was in the wrong the entire time. She’d had good intentions, one could argue she was only operating with half of the information at any one time, and other people were fooled by the Duo ruse too. But Lanolin isn’t looking for an easy excuse. She’s never been like that.
Shocked as she is, Lanolin recognizes she’s entirely at fault for everything with Duo…and everything after him too. She was getting too angry, too reckless, to obsessed. She was being too rude, too callous, too militaristic with her rule-following and how she chastised others instead of checking on them first. And she was too consumed by a need for justice that she almost let her grudge stop Sonic from saving all of the city.
But not all of Lanolin’s soldier-like traits are a bad thing. Some qualities are good, like a never-ending will. It’d be easy to fall into a pity spiral after the realization that has just shocked Lanolin’s world…but she doesn’t let that happen.
Sensing a growing panic that could lead to a mob down in the city, Lanolin speeds off, and then uses her cowbell as a megaphone to address the terrified citizens of the city. She tells them that everything is going to be okay, that the Diamond Cutters are here now, and that the blimp will be redirected to a new landing space if they all stay calm and stay organized, preventing a panic.
It’s a huge hero moment for her, and it buys time for the protagonists in the air (since they don’t need to worry about a mob spreading away from the city) to steer the blimp to a new landing zone that is clear of people.
Unfortunately, there still aren’t great options, and inevitably the blimp has to crash somewhere. Jewel, tears in her eyes, suggests Restoration HQ. Sonic and the other racers tie ropes to their hoverboards and steer the blimp on Jewel’s orders, while a few people on the ground evacuate the skeleton crew left behind at Restoration HQ during the Clean Sweepstakes. The building is emptied, and the blimp comes down, Restoration HQ going up in a ball of flames. No casualties, but it’s a definitive consequence of Clutch’s schemes that won’t be easily fixed.
Right before the crash, Lanolin intercepts Tangle and Whisper. She stumbles through an apology, explaining how she understands if they never want to work with her again, and she knows why they didn’t tell her the truth about the Phantom Rider and Sonic reveal. Lanolin sees how angry she was becoming, how untrustworthy. She’s willing to step aside from Tangle and Whisper if they want her to.
Tangle, making sure Lanolin knows that she is angry and does want a formal apology later, reassures Lanolin that she’s never stopped recognizing that Lanolin is still a hero, and still firmly on the side of good. They all want to help, and though they make mistakes, it’s that they keep helping anyway that counts in the end. Shelving an official apology for later, the Diamond Cutters make up and get to work assisting in the cleanup of the blimp disaster.
That ‘official apology‘ comes a few days later, in the crater that was once Restoration HQ. The blimp wreckage is gone, but so is the building that stood for so long through so many crises. In a circle, Lanolin sits with Tangle, Whisper, Jewel, and Silver. Everyone is taking turns giving their thoughts on the crisis, and apologizing for mistakes made throughout it. It doesn’t take long until it circles around to Lanolin’s turn.
She begins her apology in such an absolutely, perfectly-written way for her character. It’s stiff, at first. Like she’s giving a report after a mission. It’s analytical, like it’s something she’s rehearsed in front of the mirror for hours before this conversation. And then, when it really counts, it’s raw. Intimate. Vulnerable.
She doesn’t make excuses, or beat around the bush. She apologizes for losing sight of her friends, innocent civilians, everything else in her blind quest for justice. A misplaced desire to ‘help the world‘ while ignoring those within that world. It’s a sincere apology, not a ploy for pity. She gets everything off her chest not because she’s expecting to be forgiven, but because its the right thing to do.
I’ve wanted so badly to make things better for so long. To make things make sense. It’s obvious now that I so fixated on the goal I lost sight of the process…and the people in it.
An apologetic Lanolin
Alongside her apology, she also explains how her behavior, her attitude towards her work is changing. She’s becoming less rigid, less like a soldier, but she’s not losing sight of what inspired her to sign up all that time ago, watching Sonic save her village. Helping people, doing good, making a difference…that has never stopped mattering to Lanolin, even if she let herself give into an anger and obsession that almost tore her away from that part of herself forever.
Lanolin announces that she wants to start small, achievable. She wants to help rebuild a town, her hometown. Back to where she started, but with the knowledge, skills, and valuable life lessons she’s learned along the way. Jewel, also looking to pick up the pieces again, decides to unite with Lanolin. The two put their dreams together, promising to bring true good to the world.
Smiles and happiness all around, Silver uses his psychic powers to bring everybody together for one huge group hug.
And Lanolin, loathe as she might pretend to be about group hugs, smiles too.
And, as of writing this article, that’s where Lanolin’s tale ends. If it turns out this is truly destined to be the end for her, I think it’s a fitting conclusion, all told. A full-circle character arc for her, and who could ask for much else?
I’m not oblivious to the reasons people might not like Lanolin. Readers who get really invested into these stories want to see our heroes succeed, and Lanolin is sometimes a stubborn roadblock to that, without also dipping into the love-to-hate evil that makes Eggman popular. She’s in a middle ground that breeds controversy, especially when, to a reader who isn’t truly immersing themselves in the world, it can be frustrating to see Lanolin make mistakes, especially when she keeps defending Duo to the detriment of Whisper and Silver.
But if you actually try to see things from her perspective, it all makes so much more sense. She’s not omniscient, she’s not a comic reader like us. She doesn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle, and by golly, she does the best she can with what she’s got. And, unlike some characters, she’s willing to admit her mistakes, apologize, and keep working to be better!
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
