Crafty's Sonic corner

Issue #86 just came out, and we have Sonic meeting face to face with the mysterious stranger... and he recognizes who he is. However, this villain uses a strange artifact, and it seemingly makes Sonic forget what he just saw. The artifact takes the form of a STAR. At the end of the issue, Sage tells Eggman that the only suspect with that modus operandi has been long dead. What a curious LINE of dialogue.

Yeah, let's get this charade out of the way: it's Doctor Starline.

In the same issue where he died ( #50 ), Eggman confirmed his death under the rubble. Issue #52 has Surge finding his glove near the furnace of Eggperial City. Starline was confirmed dead by Eggman, and possibly cremated by him the same day.

There is no way Starline is alive.

This is where my theory comes in. Let's recap a bit:

After being fired by Eggman during the Metal Virus arc, Starline decided to become a pest to the world, working in the shadows to obtain information for his projects, which would later turn out to be Surge and Kit. He worked alongside other villains in Bad Guys, stole DNA from Tails and the AI data from Belle, and helped himself to Eggman's technology. Along the way, we discovered a peculiar habit of his: recording everything he could. A "wannabe influencer," in Surge's words.

I believe when this was written, Ian Flynn didn't intend for this to be anything more than a character flaw of Starline. He was so prideful that he couldn't help himself ; he needed to hear himself talk.

But with a bit of retroactive continuity, that can change.

What if all these logs were for a different reason?

I doubt the doctor who was so critical of Eggman for his lack of foresight, wouldn't have the foresight to use these logs for a reason of his own that wasn't just narcissism.

What if Starline was making a copy of himself? An artificial intelligence based on his own records, and that AI took the form of an android.

This is possible. While Starline never built a robot of his own in the series, the process he used to turn Surge and Kit into cyborgs proves he's a genius, something Eggman himself acknowledges post-mortem.

And issues #85 and #86 show the villain using a hypnotic device to confuse Sonic. No different from the device Starline used to gaslight Surge and Kit's memories.

It's an incomplete theory, I know. But it would explain why this guy has the fashion sense of a grim reaper with a coffin. Artistically, it symbolizes the return of a ghost; someone who comes back to haunt the heroes.

I conclude this theory of mine with the following thoughts:

Is this android a perfect replica of Starline, or a flawed one? The villain's grim attitude lacks the flamboyant theatrics of the platypus.

Was this android perhaps Infinite's benefactor in the Chaotix Casefiles?