No, Sanic isn't one of them.

There's nothing quite like Sonic the Hedgehog. Not only is he a beloved pop culture icon and the star of some of the most popular video games of all time, he's also the central character of a vast, rich mythology populated by all kinds of supporting characters. Some of Sonic's pals are just as well known as he is: Miles "Tails" Prower, the friendly flying fox; Dr. Robotnik, with his huge mustache and dastardly schemes; Knuckles the Echidna, who was basically a universal cheat code for every Sega Genesis Sonic game with his super-cool flip-top game cartridge.

Chances are those names are pretty familiar to you--and, sure, Knuckles may have already pinged your radar as being a little weird, given the way he could inexplicably glide and scale walls for no discernible reason. But when looking at the larger picture of the Sonic Universe, it wasn't that strange, right? After all, Tails could fly, Sonic could rev up. Video game characters sometimes just have weird, specific abilities, right? But it turns out flying foxes and gliding echidnas were just the tip of the strange Sonic character iceberg--and boy howdy, what an iceberg it is.

We sent ourselves on a surrealistic spiral through the far reaches of Sonic's sprawling, mega-dense lore to find some of the weirdest characters the various branches of the franchise have to offer, from ninja-detective chameleons to regular, normal humans Sonic somehow just gets to pal around with between the various TV shows, games, and comics. Who could have guessed that the fight between a super-fast blue hedgehog and an evil robotics-obsessed scientist could be so complicated?

With any luck, we'll see at least some of this craziness unleashed upon the big screen as the live-action Sonic The Hedgehog movie speeds towards theaters. Though right now, the only confirmed character (that isn't just a regular human) is Sonic himself, there's always the chance for some surprises, right? And, who knows, maybe the live-action Sonic universe will spin-off into its own mega-involved lore sometime down the line? We certainly hope it will.

1. Sonic the Werehog

Okay, this one is kind of a cheat since Sonic isn't technically a weird Sonic character in and of himself--but still. We can't make this list without reminding you that there is actually shockingly dense lore about Sonic as a, uh, "werehog." It should be noted that Sonic is already a hedgehog, so this technically would be like an actual wolf becoming a werewolf--it's a lot more like the Hulk than, say, Remus Lupin. He just gets burlier and slightly more feral. Why? We're not really sure, but we love it.

2. Vanilla the Rabbit

For a while, the Sonic franchise got really into food-themed animals, and Vanilla the Rabbit was one of them. She's not particularly weird on her own--she's a rabbit wearing a dress, which is pretty typical for the Sonic world (though it does strangely emphasize the fact that a lot of other Sonic characters are actually totally nude). What's weird about her is the fact that she has a daughter (who is the father and where did he go?) and eventually winds up living with a reprogrammed killer robot which gives us some serious Ash's Mom and Mr. Mime vibes.

3. Cream the Rabbit

As previously mentioned, Vanilla has a daughter named Cream who comes as an almost package deal with her best friend, a Chao named--you guessed it--Cheese. You know, in case you didn't pick up on the food-themed name thing yet. Cream is able to fly with her giant rabbit ears, sort of like how Tails can fly with his tails. Cream is definitely not that weird of a character, but we really just can't get past the mystery of her father. What is the truth, Sonic mythos? Why the food theme? Where did any of this come from?

4. Justin Beaver

We promise we're not making this one up. In the Sonic Boom TV show, there really was a blue beaver named Justin Beaver who was--no joke--a pop star. Somehow that cleared however many licensing and copyright lawyers and made it to air.

5. Amy Rose

Like Cream, Amy herself isn't actually that weird--it's her real-life origin story that really throws us for a loop. Amy was created to be the "Minnie" to Sonic's "Mickey," but at the last minute, according to an interview with designers Takashi Iizuka and Kazuyuki Hoshino, it was decided that Sonic must remain a confirmed bachelor--no blissful marriage, or whatever it is that Minnie and Mickey actually have--so instead of becoming Sonic's girl, Amy became a person with a slightly obsessive but totally unrequited crush. What a soap opera.

6. Manic the Hedgehog

You know how Venom is like the most '90s extreme version of Spider-Man? That same sort of thing happened for Sonic too with a character named Manic. He's bright green, his hair/quills stick up almost like a mohawk, he's the drummer in a punk band--you name it. This guy is the sort of person you'd expect to see slamming some Monster energy drink and talking really enthusiastically about the X Games. He's also a computer hacker because why not, right?

7. Maria Robotnik

Did you know Dr. Robotnik has a cousin? A very normal, totally human-looking cousin who was--and no, we're not making this up--killed off to provide the icing on the tragic backstory for Shadow the Hedgehog. Because we didn't know that until very recently and now we're never going to be able to forget it.

8. Shadow the Hedgehog

Speaking of Shadow, we can't make this list without him. Designed--and we quote--with direct influence from movies like "Constantine, Terminator, and Underworld," Shadow was a genetic experiment gone awry. He's also immortal, so there's that.

9. Antoine D'Coolette

Not to be confused with the other weirdly French-influenced character on this list (we'll get to him in a second), Antoine D'Coolette was a sword-toting fox who was married to a cyborg rabbit. He married young too--he's, according to the wiki, only 19, and his wife is 18. And what's even weirder, his wife was actually canonically his second choice. He first proposed to a princess who rejected him. Ouch.

10. Sir Charles the Hedgehog

What if Sonic was an old man (er, sorry, the wiki stipulates he is "middle-aged") and also a professor? Sir Charles the Hedgehog works closely with a human named Professor Dillon Pickle and really, how are these names even real? One thing is certain: Sir Charles has a totally rad mustache.

11. Tikal the Echidna

Tikal doesn't seem all that strange until you learn that she's not just a female echidna the same way that Amy Rose is a female hedgehog--she's actually a 4,000-year-old ghost.

12. Sam Speed

Sometimes Sonic just likes to hang out with totally normal-looking, fully-formed humans like Sam Speed, a race car driver who looks like he walked out of a completely different show. Weirder still, he's a member of the "Speed Team," a special police division that uses high-speed race cars instead of police cruisers. Gotta protect the city fast.

13. Espio the Chameleon

Not only is Espio a totally rad-looking neon pink chameleon, he's also a top-tier ninja and a hardboiled detective--which, if we're being honest, kind of feels like a bunch of character traits that were pulled out of a hat at complete random. His wiki article lists his interests and likes as "speed, danger, freedom, independence, and justice."

14. Princess Sally

Amy Rose isn't the only female character created to be a sort-of-kind-of love interest for Sonic--there's also Sally, who was originally designed as a human before her creators realized just how awkward that would be and made her a chipmunk. Notably, she carries around a super-intelligent AI (in the form of a very '80s-flavored handheld device) named, uh, Nicole. No acronym or anything, just Nicole.

15. Antoine Depardieu

The other French-flavored Antoine on our list is Antoine Depardieu. He doesn't have any relation to Antoine D'Coolette, as far as we can tell--in fact, it's not even clear what kind of animal he's based on. A fox, maybe? Or a rat? Both? He also briefly became lord of a gang called the Nasty Hyenas who turned out to be cannibals trying to eat him. You know, like you do.

16. Princess Elise

We saved the weirdest for last. Princess Elise the Third is a human princess who holds the dubious honor of being the first (and so far, only) human being to actually kiss Sonic's anthropomorphic lips. It was an interspecies smooch so powerful it actually brought Sonic back from the dead, which we assume is supposed to be very romantic and sweet but instead just feels extremely creepy and weird.