Dr. Starline is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by IDW Publishing. He was an anthropomorphic platypus and a shadowy scientist who was highly interested in Dr. Eggman and his work. After the War to Take Back the Planet, Starline found an amnesiac Eggman and helped restore his memories. He then served as his apprentice during the Metal Virus pandemic, but got fired after seeing Eggman's flaws. Assuming a new career path, Starline decided to conquer the world for Eggman in order to perfect his technique and earn his recognition. However, Starline soon realized he could do better than Eggman and so sought to rule the world himself as Eggman's superior replacement. Starline was calm, theatrical, and sophisticated most of the time, exuding an arrogant sense of pride in his intellect and abilities. Rather formal in behavior, he often addressed others as "gentlemen".[4][21] However, he was also ruthless, sinister, and cruel, as he was willing to force Dr. Eggman to be a part of an evidently painful procedure against his will to bring him back to normal.[21] Showing contempt for weakness, he possessed an incredible drive, as seen how he kept searching for Eggman despite becoming quite ill from sleep deprivation in the process.[23] Despite possessing a calm demeanor, his patience did have its limits; after spending time with Eggman, Starline began showing occasional bouts of anger and frustration primarily directed at Eggman's imperfections, stubbornness, and refusal to listen to his reasoning.[20][5] Ultimately, Starline would lose his patience after being fired by Eggman. In this state, he had proven himself emotionally unstable and prone to angry rants.[30] In addition to his intellect, Starline was quite manipulative. He could expertly use other people to his advantage in order to make them cooperate with him or lure them into traps, and he knew exactly to strike his foes where it hurt the most.[22][4] However, despite considering himself brilliant, he originally possessed a subservient attitude towards Eggman and willingly submitted himself to his command. Starline was an insane fanatic of the Eggman Empire. At first, he was willingly submissive to Eggman alone and his orders, although his fascination with the doctor made him blind and ignorant to the flaws of his idol at first. In fact, Starline was with Eggman at almost every turn during the Zombot apocalypse and was ready to come to his rescue despite not thinking things through too well.[27] Unlike Eggman's more overt ways, Starline was much more subtle. Notably, he preferred simply launching an ambush instead of luring someone into a trap with bait that exposes his activities. Starline similarly always covered up his tracks in various ways, thereby leaving him activities undetected by his enemies.[23][33] Always waiting patiently for the right time to attack, he would only reveal himself when the time was perfect, at which point he allowed himself to be exaggeratingly theatrical.[36] He was also very thorough with everything he does. Notably, he put his projects through hundreds of different tests until he was absolutely assured of their safety and has sufficient data samples to work out from,[23][30] unlike Dr. Eggman, who would hastily begin implementing his plans without finishing the necessary procedures that would prevent the fallibility of his creations.[23] Similarly, he took great care when preparing for direct confrontations with his foes, like luring Sonic into an environment where he was at a disadvantage and scouting out a whole mountain before-hand in order to use his Warp Topaz to its fullest and kill him on his first try.[4] He also preferred working in the shadows and avoiding unnecessary clashes with his foes.[37] Like Eggman, Starline was unhappy with the chaotic and unpredictable state of the world that he intended to take control of. Unlike Eggman, however, who would seek to bring order to the planet with the blind obedience of machines, Starline had come to see that the ingenuity and will of living beings made them much more effective than mindless robots, and so he sought to use cyborgs mentally programmed to his will to bring the world under his control.[30] After seeing Eggman's Metal Virus plot grow out of control and being fired as Eggman's protégé after realizing the flaws of his idol, Starline came to realize the downside to arrogance and egotism. As such, he was very careful not to go down the same path Eggman has walked for years. He likewise believed that robots made much more suitable allies than organic creatures, as they were unquestionably loyal, tireless, and efficient, though only when properly programmed. As such, he ultimately strived to be a lone genius that did not need to rely on anyone. Despite being cautious and systematic with his actions though, Starline was not infallible. Notably, he had a tendency to underestimate the situations he was in, especially those that he thought he was in control of.[32][19][39] His experiences with artificial emotions and excitement in particular had led him to underestimate the possible dangers they pose in the wrong hands.[30] Having been noted to love hearing himself talk as well,[40] Starline frequently made video logs of virtually every operation he conducted, carefully documenting his very action and thought, unless he believed it was not relevant.[32][19][39][30] Unfortunately, his careful documentations often turned against him as they allowed his more volatile associates to discover his true intentions and plans with them, which would result in a catastrophic outcome later.[19][30] He is also shown to be a hypocrite. While acknowledging his shortcomings made him similar to Eggman when pointed out by Zavok,[34] he remarks how Eggman suffers from tunnel-vision due to his obssession with Sonic[32] even though he too suffers the same from his own obsession with Eggman and how the world never improves from the repetitive conflict beween Sonic and Eggman,[39] disregarding that he restarted it by restoring Eggman's memories.[14] Similar to how Eggman took the Zombots growing out of his control,[20] Starline procrastinated looking into Surge and Kitsunami's resistance to his hypnosis.[39] Starline possessed a genius-level intellect, having devoted himself to the study of arcane powers and robotics.[20] Notably, he had conducted successful research into the strange properties of the Warp Topaz.[22] His knowledge on robotics were also enough to let him assist Dr. Eggman with the repairs of Metal Sonic.[20][22] He also invented impressive devices on his own, such as the Tricore.[33] Additionally, he could put together various algorithms that allowed him to take control of entire Eggman databases and the Badniks within them.[40] Most notably though, he, with some resources pulled from Eggman, produced Surge the Tenrec and Kitsunami the Fennec, anthropomorphic animal organisms which he turned into cyborgs by implementing cybernetic enhancements from Power Cores, the emotional intelligence from Belle, and the physical resistance given by the Metal Virus.[39][30] However, he was not of the same caliber as Eggman's intellect, as he would need months to produce the same program algorithms which Eggman could create within a single month,[38] though Eggman claimed Starline was one of the finest minds he had ever encountered.[47] He also showed himself to be a capable psychologist, having developed procedures for restoring memories lost to amnesia using radical methods, like neuro-stimulants and aggressive hypnotherapy.[22] Physically, Starline was athletic enough to deliver kicks to his opponents, reminiscent of capoeira, but he lacked the dexterity and strength as someone like Sonic and his allies, which put him at a considerable disadvantage.[32] He also seemed to be quite hardy, taking a full-force momentum-fueled Spin Attack from Sonic head-on and appearing to be in more awe than pain immediately afterwards.[4] Equipment WarpTopazDodge Dr. Starline using the Warp Topaz to dodge Sonic and Silver, from Sonic the Hedgehog #14. Starline used to possess the Warp Topaz, a gemstone that was embedded in his left glove, until Eggman took it from him.[17] With this stone, Starline could bend time and space to create spatial wormholes to other places and open "windows" to the world in an instant, allowing him to look farther and further in hours that what the Badniks could do in a day.[22][23] In combat, Starline used his Warp Topaz's ability to create portals to pull allies out of his enemies' grip and protect himself by redirecting opponents that come charging at him to other locations by opening a portal right in front of them.[4] However, the Warp Topaz needs to be provided with a very passive charge in order to work.[22] He later had it replaced with the Tricore, a combination of different Power Cores that gave him enhanced speed, strength and agility in order to make up for his physical shortcomings.[33] However, he could only access one of these enhancements at a time.[30] Should Starline harness all three types of powers at the same time though, he could perform the Tricore Blast, which is powerful enough to destroy a large mech, although at the cost of exhausting the Tricore's power.[2] Without an object of power inserted into it, Starline's left glove was still useful. He could use his glove to emit waves from its palm that could hypnotize people in order to manipulate their subsequent behavior, memory, and perception. As an extra detail, it could plant Starline's subliminal suggestions in his victims' minds that they will carry out, like falling asleep upon command or kidnapping others while not directly hypnotized.[32][36] However, the glove's hypnotic powers did not work well on individuals who possessed mentally strong wills, like Zavok;[32] conversely, it worked easily on simple-minded individuals,[37] or at least those he can catch off guard.[36] Immunities could also be made to the glove, as shown with Eggman using his goggles.[2] In addition, it could not hypnotize entire crowds as it was more of a precision tool.[32][36] Also, if used frequently, his gloves hypnosis could lead to psychological trauma and resistance, as in the case of Surge and Kit, who have been treated too often with it.[39][30] Starline also possessed the Multi-Tool Heel Spurs, which he wore on the heels of his boots. He could use them to deliver efficient kicks depending on the setting he used them in. In "electro-spur mode", Starline could produce lashes of electricity from the devices that can tear through multiple Motobugs. The Heel Spurs were also loaded with a mild neurotoxin that could incapacitate anyone he kicks with them for a short time, although an additional dose would be fatal.[32][37] Dr. Starline was an anthropomorphic platypus with white fur that covered most of his body. His bill was black-colored and narrow with nostrils on the front, and he possessed red eyes, black eyelids, and a thick tail. He also had three thick hair turfs on his head that were combed over the right side of his head. His front hair turf also possessed a gray highlight. For attire, Starline wore a satin purple shirt with golden cufflinks, a red-violet vest, and orange pince-nez glasses. He also wore a webbed brown glove on his left hand with a gold insertion clip and golden-tipped fingertips. A darker brown ring could be seen on the palm of the glove. He also wore brown boots with golden buckles, red-violet soles, medium-high heels, the Multi-Tool Heel Spurs and upward-turned pointy toes and light red-violet socks underneath.[9][17] Starline bore the Tricore in the glove. However, usage of the Warp Topaz had left his left-hand underneath the brown glove slightly charred, leaving behind a few patches of burned skin.[17] When Starline was not using the Warp Topaz, he kept it in a jar.[18] For special occasions, Starline had worn different outfits: For cold weather, he wore a long dark purple hooded coat with fluffy pale purple trims. Occasionally, he only wore a red-violet T-shirt.[19] Sometimes, he wore a red-violet bathing robe and slippers.[9] He's also a twink.