Surge the Tenrec is a new antagonist introduced to the IDW Sonic The Hedgehog comic series. The nefarious Dr. Starline created her and her "brother," Kitsunami the Fennec, as "copies" of Sonic and Tails. Kit is just as awesome as Surge, but I'm going to focus on Surge for this post. Fans love Surge, and it's more than because she's an amazing villain.
Surge is heavily based off the infamous glitch from Sonic The Hedgehog 2, known as Ashura. This bizarre glitch resulted in Sonic's color palette becoming green and black, identical to Surge's face, and the resulting look of Sonic became known as Ashura. Scourge the Hedgehog is also influenced by Ashura, and thus, Surge is not only based off Ashura, but also based off Scourge.
For fans who are not familiar with Archie-Sonic, let me catch you up: way back in the mid-90s, Sonic's universe became a sprawling multiverse (Marvel's not the only one to try it). In one such universe, everything was flipped: heroes were villains, and villains were heroes. Hence, Sonic and friends were villains. And Evil Sonic (aka Anti-Sonic), as he was called, was a notorious recurring character. Later on in the series, Evil Sonic got a mega power-up from the Master Emerald, turning his fur green and his eyes blue (during this time, he also got a new black jacket). Knuckles' father, wanting him off the Master Emerald, struck Evil Sonic across the chest with his spiked gloves, slashing Evil Sonic pretty badly. But Evil Sonic gathered himself quickly enough and took in stride. With his new look, he renamed himself Scourge.
So when Archie-Sonic fans engrossed with Sonic IDW met Surge, some of us not only saw the Ashura connection, but the Scourge connection also. Scourge. Surge. Take out the C and O and it's the same name. They rhyme. Their teeth are identically sharp. Even Surge's ripped black top and Scourge's black jacket are somewhat similar.
There are other reasons everyone loves Surge besides the Scourge and Ashura influences, of course.
Surge is a beloved antagonist, not just because she's cool, but because she's a she. And rarely in the Sonic-verse do we come across female antagonists who are as edgy and fraught with emotional wounds as many male antagonists. Not to mention, since she was made to be Sonic's copy (with his same personality, too, although it's taken to an extreme), we finally see what a female Sonic could be like (again, because the personality is taken to an extreme). A smaller note why this is gripping is because she is a cyborg, somewhat similar to Shadow (though not entirely).
The emotional ride Surge takes us on is phenomenal, too--another reason we not only love her, but in a way, root for her. She wants Eggman dead. He's horrible. And Starline should die, too. He tortured her. And Sonic should be put out of the way while she's at it. He's the whole reason her miserable life came about.
I'm probably not the only one who wants Eggman to conk out. [SPOILER WARNING] And I know I'm not the only one who was glad to see Starline die! (Which was a surprise twist I found pleasing for the sake of story, too.) But no one wants to see Sonic die, even though it can be pretty satisfying sometimes to see him fight for his life and for once acknowledge how dire the battle is.
But Surge clearly has emotional issues brought on by her troubled life. Yeah, kill Eggman, kill Starline, sure. But it's logical to her that Sonic should die. And not logical like "I-work-for-this-side-so-Sonic-must-die," not "Sonic-stopped-me-from-conquering-the-world-so-Sonic-must-die," not "Elise-loves-Sonic-so-Sonic-must-die." I could go on with the "logic."
Surge's desire to see Sonic dead stems from a desire for revenge--which, I know, that is totally not new--but it's a different kind of revenge than when Sonic foils someone's nefarious plots. She was made to destroy Sonic, but those who made her were cruel to her. If he didn't exist, neither would she. And then she would never have been abused. So she'll make him pay for just existing.
And evidently, a tiny part of her knows this obsession is unhealthy, maybe even not worth it. But the rest of her won't stop and tells her she may not stop. Another part of her tells her to prove herself. To whom? To the ghost of Starline. And why would that ghost care? Well, technically, the ghost shouldn't. But it haunts her, nevertheless, so she will prove how powerful she is to that belittling ghost, and then maybe it'll leave her alone.
So she tries harder, gets more powerful, until it blows up in her face (literally).
And, in far less... dramatic ways (of course), maybe we can relate to that kind of go-go-go-and-never-stop obsession. Maybe we can relate to wanting to prove ourselves to people we don't need to prove ourselves to at all. And maybe we want Surge to stop her madness, not because she's doing the completely wrong thing, but because we want her to live a healthy life.
Sonic tried to point out to her that they could be friends and that she could explore the world and live by his philosophy (she was kind of programmed with it--to the extreme, as I noted earlier). She could be free and have fun and live the kind of life everyone should live. And we all want that for Surge. For once, we have encountered a vicious Sonic villain we want to see change into a beautiful, outgoing ally, and we know she could.
And who knows? Maybe she will.
That's why everyone loves Surge.
Okay, maybe no one thought about it that deeply, but that doesn't change the fact we all love her.
